Fire and Rain
by SpobyOTP
Summary: AU. Around season 5. Elena is preparing for the stress and strain of going back to Whitmore college for the beginning of her sophomore year. Not wanting to leave Damon and the shaky sense of normal she has established around him, they are both shocked when a series of events is set in store that changes all of their lives forever.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: To be clear, I do not own TVD or any of its characters except ones that I create on my own. All ownership to the original characters of TVD goes to Julie Plec and co, and the CW network.**

* * *

**Fire and Rain**

_September 14, 2014 _

After suffering through an unbearable summer that was full of near hits and misses as far as avoiding death and destruction by either Traveler witches, or their own bad luck that the world kept piling on top of them. Not to mention, the universe thinking it owned the right to push Stefan and Elena together, while trying its hardest to keep Damon and Elena apart, the residents were definitely relieved when the summer ended, signaling an end to a hard year, and the promise of a new beginning with the fall semester at Whitmore college fast approaching.

Despite her friend's rampant (and often heated) objections to her relationship with Damon Salvatore, Elena Gilbert had made a choice that fateful night by the fire, and while it was something she had never envisioned for herself while she was caught up in the glow of Stefan's halo, this was something she had given careful consideration over, and had been ready to make that leap with the man who had captured her heart for better or worse, and was now the one she was ready to give her heart over to completely.

The long—distance side of things wasn't something either of them envied. It had been something they had slowly adjusted to over the summer, but now that she was ready to resume her courses at Whitmore with Caroline and Bonnie, the old anxiety over leaving him, was returning. It wasn't easy when so many thing could happen that would push them away from each other, but she was hopeful that it was something they would be able to work through should a situation arise.

The night before she was due to leave, was upon them. It was something Elena tried her hardest _not _to think about as she and Damon took a leisurely stroll around Mystic Falls, near where Alaric's old loft was still stationed. It was rare that she and Damon got to have this kind of quality time together.

Usually, one or both of them was busy with an earth-shattering assignment, or there was some crisis that demanded their divided attention. Having the opportunity to spend time with him, had been a prerequisite for her going back, even though Carole had been nagging her to help her pick out some color palettes for their new and improved dorm room.

"I got my class schedule," Elena was saying, as she folded her arms tightly across her chest in direct response to the cold that permeated the fall air.

"What's it going to be?" Damon asked, as he tightened his arm around her. "CEO? Or a doctor like dear old dad?"

"Stop," she said, giving him the kind of look that she was a pro at when she was either annoyed or just pretending to be. "I thought of something light for sophomore year."

"What is it?"

"Psychology courses."

The kind of look he gave her was clearly meant as something akin to astonishment, but the smile she gave him, disarmed the look that he had plastered on his face only moments before.

"And you think that's _light_?" he asked, rolling his eyes.

"No," she admitted, as she walked a little ahead of him. "But it's something I'm good at, and it's something I can use to help identify with people more, maybe it will help me fight my cravings if I know what they're-"

"If you know what they're thinking when you tear their jugular apart?" Damon asked skeptically. "Elena, no amount of psychology courses is going to halt that predatory instinct."

It had been a constant source of struggle for the new vampire. Controlling her natural urges so that she wouldn't wind up harming an innocent human being. Contrary to what Damon had tried to convince her of, she didn't believe that harming humans was the only way to go about her life as an immortal being.

It would do in a pinch if blood bags were scarce, but she firmly believed in the power of self-control, and while that was something that didn't come naturally to her boyfriend, she was hoping that she would be able to make an impression on him eventually.

"I...I know," she stammered, without much conviction. "But it's the fact that _I'll _know if I do something wrong, and I just...I can't handle that right now."

"Whatever you say, Elena," he said, rolling his eyes. "Is Blondie going to stop giving me the stink eye anytime soon?"

Caroline had made no secret of the fact that she disapproved of Elena and Damon's romance, and while Elena had turned a blind eye to her friend's misguided concerns, the pressure of that was starting to wear on both of them whenever they happened to share a room with the opinionated blonde.

"I don't know," Elena admitted. "She still has unresolved issues with the fact that you _did _compel her, and feed from her."

"Yeah, but that was before I was a reformed serial killer, remember?"

"_I _do," Elena said, "but she doesn't yet."

"Well, maybe it's time she resolves her issues before she brings a shadow of gloom over the place."

"She will. I'll talk to her," Elena promised.

Not that it would do much good when Caroline was all but convinced Elena was being brainwashed by Damon, but she would do her best to set her mind right, and fill her in on some things that she may not have known about the eldest Salvatore brother.

"Good luck, warrior princess."

"Thanks-"

Whatever she had been about to say next, was interrupted by an absolute blood—curdling scream that sent both of them running as fast as their human legs would carry them. They could have used vampire speed, but chose to run slower in case any humans were nearby that would detect them.

Her undead heart hammering with the dreaded anticipation of what they would find, they rounded a corner to find a child hunched down behind the cover of a trash bin. She couldn't have been any older than ten, and was clearly terrified.

"Damon-" Elena started to say, at a loss for words as to how to approach the situation. This time of night, and this area, was no place for a little child to be without protection.

"I know."

It was unspoken between them: they _had_ to help her somehow. They had no idea how, or even what had happened to her, but they knew they had to do something to figure out where this little girl belonged, and why she was in a dark alley in the middle of the night.

Deciding to be the first one to approach her, Elena did so slowly as she crouched down to her level to make her feel more comfortable. On closer inspection, she could smell the blood that was coming from a wound that was still unseen by her, but her blood-stained clothes were a dead giveaway to the fact that something had happened to her right before they had arrived.

"Hi," Elena said, speaking softly so she wouldn't alarm the girl any further than she already was. "My name is Elena. That's Damon," she said, introducing her boyfriend who kept his distance until the girl was more comfortable with just Elena.

"H—Hi," the little girl said, hiccuping slightly as she raised tear-stained eyes to these two strangers who had suddenly happened upon her.

"Why are you out here when it's so cold out?"

"I—I fell."

"You...did?" Elena asked, looking over at Damon who looked just as nonplussed as she felt.

How could a child survive a fall like that? It boggled her mind, and it was something that made her want to know more as she inched closer to the girl, hoping that she had started to gain some of her trust by now.

"I fell high up."

"How high?" Elena pressed gently.

"From that window up there," the little girl said, pointing with her finger to a first story window that had been unnoticed by either of them until just then. The glass was broken from the window, indicating that either it had been broken before impact, or when her fragile body had hit it.

The mystery of what happened to her, was the one thing Elena couldn't move past as she kept her crouched position, trying to to decipher the best way to help this girl.

"What happened to you? Why did you fall out the window?"

"This man came," the little girl said, choking back on a soft cry as she curled her arms around her shaken knees.

"What man?" Elena asked, taking another look at Damon, who shook his head in complete confusion. "What did he look like?"

"I didn't see his f—face."

"What _did _you see?" Damon asked softly, deciding to approach her after he thought enough time had passed for the little girl to have gotten used to his face.

"I was in my room sleeping for the night like Mom and Dad told me to," she explained. "I heard them scream, and I thought something was wrong, so I went to check on them."

"And what happened then?" Elena asked, watching as Damon got down on one knee beside the girl.

"I saw this...person, and he was kissing their necks but they weren't happy about it."

"What do you mean?" Damon asked.

"He was biting their necks...and then he saw me."

If there was any doubt that it had been a vampire who had been responsible for what happened to the little girl, it was erased now as Elena and Damon once again silently consulted with each other, clearly knowing the exact cause for the little girl's injuries, and why she was outside on a cold night like this.

"And what did he do?" Elena asked, reaching over to grasp Damon's hand, needing the emotional strength that he provided to her at a time like this, when the natural compassion that she felt toward this little girl, was nearly overwhelming.

"He saw me...and he did the same thing...only he put his wrist up to my mouth," the little girl said, demonstrating with her own hand what the vampire did to her. "And then everything went black."

The girl anchored her body away from them, then, as though afraid that they would hurt her too like the vampire before them had. Elena, at a complete loss for words as to how to handle this situation, looked at Damon for the answers that she was sorely lacking in that instant.

She hadn't ever come across a child who had been turned into a vampire, and from what the girl had said, the vampire had fed her his blood and then killed her, thus ensuring the fact that she would reawaken as one of them.

The question of whether or not she was in transition or not, was the one thing that Elena couldn't bear to know because it would mean facing the choice of whether or not to allow her to finish it, or let her die in peace; free from the pain of her final moments on this earth, or allow her to complete it, and have a vampire child on their hands that would either prove to be a wonder at self-control and innocence, or be a complete wreck whenever she had a childlike tantrum.

"When you woke up, you must have been pretty scared," Elena said.

"I just woke up."

"_Just_ now?" Damon asked.

"Yes. Right before you came."

So she hadn't completed the transition yet from human to vampire. It was gut-wrenching for Elena, and from the look on Damon's face, she knew that he was feeling much of what she was in that moment.

"Do you have a name?" Elena asked.

"A—Alexandra."

"Alexandra. That's a pretty name for a pretty little girl," Damon said gently, offering his hand for her to take, hoping that she would harbor some trust for them to take her home with them and figure out a plan from there.

To his surprise, she took it instantly, enabling him to pick her up in his arms and cradle her against his body. He knew what that craving was like for blood when one first woke up from the killing the killer had made, and it was nearly unbearable.

The human body that was now transitioning from that of a mortal to immortal being, craved the sustenance of blood to survive. It was something a child should _never _have had to deal with at such a fragile age, but there wasn't anything either of them could do to change the hands of time that fate had dealt them.

"Where are we going?" she asked, her voice coming up in a high pitch as she coughed on another cry.

"We're going to take you home," Elena said, as she walked alongside them.

"To where my Mom and Dad are?" Alexandra asked hopefully, turning her little eyes on Damon, already clearly forming some kind of an attachment to him.

Seeing it, made Elena smile, because she knew exactly the kind of person that Damon could be when he wanted, and right now, he was as gentle and kind as she had ever seen him, as he was clearly caught up in the natural instincts that he felt toward protecting this little girl.

"I don't know," Damon said softly.

How could they explain to her that her Mom and Dad were both dead? And she was the only one alive because the vampire had taken some kind of perverse pleasure in keeping her alive as an immortal being?

It was a bridge they would have to cross when they had returned to the boarding house, and got more information on their options from either Bonnie or Stefan.

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_I published this yesterday, but I wanted to edit it a little bit so the little girl would be older at ten. _

_Please, if you can, leave a review. I don't like begging, so this is the only time I will be asking._


	2. Chapter 2

It made Elena sick to think about someone doing something so horrible as to find a child and her family, and not only kill the parents of the child, but then turn around and turn her. The idea that someone could do something so horrible as to harm an innocent being, and then turn that child into a vampire, was what ruled her thoughts as she and Damon, along with their precious cargo, made their way back to the boarding house.

Alexandra for her part, seemed mostly oblivious to the fact that her family was gone. Occasionally she would stir in Damon's arms, and ask whether or not she was being taken back to her family. It was hard for them to field those questions when they knew they would have to face the truth with her eventually, and then also face the even tougher question as to whether or not to allow her to turn or not.

It wasn't anything they could have helped, and they both realized it, but now they were responsible for making the choice of whether or not they allowed a ten-year-old child to complete the transition from human to vampire.

Children being turned into immortal beings, wasn't something either of them had come across in their existences as vampires. Damon, being the one who had been around the longest, had never come across something so rare and unusual, and Elena, being only a few short months into her new life as a vampire, had never heard of it.

Fear and dread clawing at her heart, she almost dreaded it when they reached the expansive mansion and walked through the warm and inviting foyer and straight into the living room. Alexandra twisted in Damon's arms, no doubt wanting to explore her strange and unfamiliar surroundings, as he turned and sat with her on the couch.

Elena sat down beside them, her brain going ninety miles an hour as she tried to contemplate the best possible solution for the problem they were now being faced with. They had just under twenty-four hours before they would be forced to make the choice, or face watching as a little girl died.

Unless Bonnie could influence the same witches who had stripped her of her powers when she made the fateful choice to bring Jeremy back from the dead, and had made her the anchor to the other side that spirits were forced to pass through.

Running her hand through Alexandra's soft, chocolate brown hair, she was rewarded when the little girl looked up at her with sad, confused eyes, as though wondering why she had been brought to this strange place, and where her family was.

"Why am I here?" she asked, her little voice catching on the last word as she looked from Damon to Elena.

"We brought you here so we could make sure you get better," Elena explained gently. "We can help you."

"Why?" she asked curiously.

"Because we like you," Damon said.

"Why?"

"Because," Elena said with a smile. "We _do_."

"Where's my Mom and Dad?" Alexandra asked, as she tucked her knees underneath her tiny frame. "They said I would be in trouble if I talked to strangers."

"Well, technically, they're right," Damon said, avoiding the question directly as he slid into the intended explanation that he was wanting to give her. "But we're not strangers anymore, are we?"

The little girl shrugged, raising one shoulder in answer. "I guess not."

"Tell me about your Mom and Dad," Elena pressed gently, trying to keep her mind occupied from what was happening to her, and more on the current situation she was in with the two people who found her.

"Mom's nice. She makes me cool things, and she buys me these candies that I really like. We also do our nails together, and go to the movies for girls night."

"What about your Dad?"

"He likes to wrestle with me a lot, and watch movies."

"That sounds nice," Elena said, smiling softly, as she reached for her phone to send a text over to Bonnie and Caroline. She needed their advice on this situation, and even though she wasn't in the mood to hear Caroline's snarky commentary on Damon, she needed her friend.

"Who are you talking to?" the little girl asked.

"My friends."

"Why?"

"Because I want to," Elena smiled. "They're very nice."

"And nosy-" Damon started, but stopped at the look of warning that Elena quickly passed over to him.

The last thing she needed was for Alexandra to start asking more questions that she wouldn't have the answers for. Relieved when she received an almost instant reply from both of them, she settled back against the plush, comfortable sofa and waited for them to show up.

"What are we going to do?" Elena whispered, passing a look over to Damon, hoping that the child wouldn't hear the almost muted conversation they were having with one another.

"I don't know. We have to wait and see what Bonnie can work out with the witches."

It was rare that Damon didn't have an answer for something that was going wrong in their lives. The situation with Alexandra had completely shocked both of them, and it was something they were at a loss as to how to manage without the assistance of Bonnie and the resources she could provide them with.

When the door swung open a few minutes later, Elena almost collapsed in relief when she saw her best friend walk through the foyer and into the living room/parlor.

"Bonnie, thank you so much for coming," Elena said, standing up to envelop her friend in a quick hug. Even though they butted head sometimes about the finer aspects of vampirism, and Elena's choice of boyfriend, she was always there for her when she needed her.

Like now.

"Of course," Bonnie said, giving her the kind of look that made Elena feel like an idiot for questioning her friend's loyalty to her. "What happened?" she asked, looking over at the little girl for the first time.

Elena had neglected to mention Alexandra in the text, only mentioning that she had an emergency that needed her immediate attention. Looking at her now, Elena could see the invisible dots connecting in Bonnie's mind as she looked back and forth at Elena and Damon.

"This is Alexandra," Elena said, motioning to the little girl. "Damon and I found her while we were out walking tonight."

"Oh...okay. So what's the deal?"

Instead of answering her immediately like she wanted to, Elena strode away from the keen hearing of the little girl, and into the sparsely used kitchen where they could converse in privacy without alarming the little girl who would be dealing with enough upset and confusion as it was.

"Dam and I found her while we were out walking," Elena said, as she turned to face her best friend since first grade.

"Why did you bring her here?" Bonnie asked, stating the obvious. "Where's her family?"

"They're dead."

"They're _what_?"

"They're gone," Elena said, pausing a moment to collect her fractured emotions before continuing. "A vampire broke into their place and killed them."

"Okay, so what are you planning on doing with her?"

"I don't know because the vampire turned her."

"Turned...who?" Bonnie asked slowly.

"The girl," Elena said. "She described it in perfect detail, Bonnie. Why would a vampire do this to someone so young?"

"I...I don't know."

"What can we do? What can the witches do to reverse this?"

"Elena," Bonnie said, shaking her head in a complete loss for words. "The witches cut off my power when I sacrificed myself to bring Jeremy back. I don't have that level of control anymore."

"But you're the anchor," Elena reminded her, feeling desperate. "Can you do something? Can you try?"

"I can try, Elena, but I don't have the power to reach them anymore. The natural elements that witches use to communicate amongst each other, was cut off from me as punishment for what I did."

"Where's Caroline?"

Even though she was secretly relieved that she wasn't having to put up with her judgmental attitude toward Damon, the fact that Caroline had opted out of coming over when the text had clearly indicated an emergency, was slightly confusing to her.

"She's coming," Bonnie assured her.

"Okay, okay," Elena said, trying to take a breath. "What happens now?"

"Now we wait."


	3. Chapter 3

It wasn't easy to "wait" when the life of a precious little girl was in danger either way they looked at it. As a vampire child she would possess the strength needed to fend off some of her more prominent enemies, but then she would also face the realization that her life was permanently halted at ten-years-old.

For Elena, she had always dreamed about having children with first Stefan, and then Damon, but she never imagined it would happen like this, that a little girl would fall into her lap that had been turned against her will by the cruelty of another.

It was too much for her to imagine, and it made her sick all over again when she thought of it like that. Walking out of the kitchen and back into the living room, she saw Damon whispering something in her ear, something that made the little girl laugh clearly, and that put a smile on Elena's face as she walked in front of their line of vision with Bonnie.

"What were you guys talking about?" Elena asked, as she lounged casually on the sofa, trying to ignore that part of her that wanted to break down at the sight of the inquisitive look on Alexandra's face.

"We're talking about what a slouch Bonnie is," Damon said, only half-joking as he turned to look at their ex-witch friend.

"Very funny," Bonnie said, rolling her eyes, but not doing (or saying) anything more since they were in the hearing range of a little kid who would be more sensitive to some of the things they were spouting out about each other.

"I'm hungry," Alexandra stated bluntly as she turned to look at Elena. "Can I have some food?"

"She knows what she wants," Damon said, turning his head to look at his girlfriend. "Shall we?"

"Sure."

In reality, Elena knew that she was probably craving blood, but wasn't realizing that fact yet as she followed them out to the kitchen where Elena had stocked it months previously when Jeremy had come to live with them full time.

"Do you want a sandwich?" Elena asked, turning to look at the little girl as she perched herself at the counter.

"Peanut butter and jelly?"

"You got it."

Reveling in the brief simplicity of making her something as innocent as a sandwich, Elena made the requested food and slid the plate across to her. It didn't take her long—only a single bite or so—before she spit it back out, her body already rejecting the food that used to sustain her without a problem.

"What's wrong?" Elena asked, leaning across the counter to face the little girl.

"It tastes yucky."

"Does it?"

She remembered that well from her own transition period when the thought of "regular" food tasted disgusting to her. The only difference was that she had known what was happening to her, while this little girl was completely oblivious to it.

"Yeah. When are my Mom and Dad going to be here?"

She kept asking—the one subject she hadn't ever forgotten to inquire about, and it broke Elena's heart as she tried to formulate the right response to the question that no little girl should ever be prepared for.

Shaking her head in disbelief at the situation at hand, she looked over at her best friend, at Bonnie, and saw the same torn look on her face that Elena knew was on hers. It was disbelieving that they could find a little girl and then have that little girl be in the throes of something she couldn't possibly understand.

"Bonnie," Elena whispered, needing the support and strength of her friend in that moment. "What do I—what do I say to her?"

"You just tell her the truth," Bonnie said. "That's the only thing you can do. Tell her that her parents are at peace, and they love her very much."

There was no way Elena was opening the can of worms that telling Alexandra that her parents were dead, would present. They would have plenty of time for questions later, when and if they allowed her to complete the transition.

"You know," Elena said, as she knelt down in front of the little girl, gently taking her hand in hers as she spoke to her. "That your Mom and Dad love you very much."

"I know."

"But even though they love you," Elena said, struggling to string together a sentence that would make sense to the child. "Sometimes they have to go ahead of you."

"Why?"

"Because sometimes the angels in Heaven need them to come and help out."

"Why?"

Elena smiled softly. "I don't know why. What I do know is that Heaven needed your Mommy and Daddy, and they went to be with the angels."

"Why?"

"Well, I don't have the answer, unfortunately, but I do know that they loved you, and wouldn't have left unless they were needed someplace else."

"Will I see them again?"

"I think you will."

Alexandra fell silent as she hopped off the stool that had been drawn up to the counter. Following her path, she went back out to the living room and plopped down on the sofa again. When she saw Damon enter the room, she instantly held her arms out for him to take her in.

"It's okay, sweet girl," Damon said, as he held her soothingly. "Let's go upstairs and lay you down."

They had six other bedrooms in the boarding house besides his, but he knew that Elena would probably feel more secure if Alexandra was stationed someplace close by, and the little girl had clearly taken a shining to him, and wanted to be near him.

"I miss Mom and Dad," Alexandra said softly, as she fisted Damon's shirt in her hand.

"I know you do," Damon soothed as he rounded the corner to his conjoined bedroom/bathroom. "You want to lay down and rest for a little while?"

"Okay."

Grateful she wasn't putting up a fight, Damon gently lowered her onto the bed and covered her with the blankets that were unmade on the bed.

"Mom gave me a time out if my blankets were messy," Alexandra said, clearly noticing the mess of the bed that Damon and Elena had left behind.

"They were right to do that," Elena said, recalling the various times where she and Jeremy had gotten in trouble for not cleaning their rooms. "It teaches you stuff."

"Boring stuff," Damon said, rolling his eyes.

"Damon," Elena hissed, clearly taking on the role of 'bad cop' while her boyfriend had firmly taken over the part of 'good cop.'

"What? Just giving it to her like it is," Damon defended, much to the amusement of the little girl who giggled, clearly enjoying the mini-argument that the two people before her were engaged in.

"Whatever," Elena said, rolling her eyes. "Bonnie, can you go and see what you can find out about this situation?"

She hesitated to say what was really going in front of Alexandra. She was already going through enough confusion without having to hear the word "vampire" said aloud like it was no big deal, and that she may possibly become one herself.

"Yeah, sure," Bonnie said, taking one last look at the child before walking out of the room. "I'll let you know."

"Okay, thank you."

Waiting until she could hear her friend's footsteps fade from her range of supernatural hearing, she sighed before sinking down onto the bed next to Alexandra. The child didn't roll away from her or try to get up. Instead, she scooted closer to her, as Damon laid down on her other side.

"What are we doing?" Alexandra asked with a giggle.

"Resting," Damon said, closing his eyes. "Try it."

"But it's not bedtime, silly!"

"Pretend it is," Elena said. "You need to rest."

Especially if she would be going through with the rough transition ahead of her. If she managed to fall asleep in spite of all the excitement that had plagued her life, it would give her new surrogate parents that chance to discuss their options and if they wanted that kind of life for her or not.

"But I'm not sleepy!" she protested.

"Yes, you are," Elena insisted, as she covered her some more with the blankets. "Go to sleep, and then when you wake up, we'll do something fun together."

"Okay."

To her astonishment, she calmed down and even managed to fall asleep once she had given it a solid effort. It relieved her in some ways, and made her anxious in other ways. She knew that she and Damon needed to come to some sort of conclusion about what they would do with this little girl, and if they would keep her and build a family around her, or if they would let her pass away to be at peace.

"Okay," Elena said, turning to face Damon, being careful not to disturb the little girl at her side. "What are we going to do?"

"I don't know," Damon admitted. "It's not like there's a manual written on how to decide if a kid should have to face what we went through as vampires, only have it be ten times worse because of her age."

"Is it right for us to decide to be the takers of her life?" Elena wondered. "If we let her die, it's like we made that choice to allow a little kid to die in front of us."

"She's already dead, Elena," Damon reminded her gently. "Right now, we just need to decide if we keep her alive in the sense that she's a vampire, or let her fully pass away to be with her parents."

Elena shook her head at the enormity of the task ahead of her. It didn't fair that she and Damon had to be the judge and jury in this matter, and decide whether or not they could live with themselves if they allowed her to drink blood that would be crucial for her to complete the process.

"She could have a great life," Elena mused quietly, as her hand traveled down to rest on top of Damon's. "With you and I. No one has to know that she's a vampire, and if anyone notices-"

"We tear their heart out?" Damon suggested bluntly.

"Damon-"

"What? I'm being practical."

"Well, it's not helping right now. We can give her a good life, Damon, with you and I and the people that we know and trust, but what if something happens to her?"

"Like what?" 

"Like, someone recognizing her."

"We compel them to forget about her," Damon said. "Easy."

"For you, maybe."

"So what's the final verdict, Elena?" Damon demanded, tired of going back and forth over the issue when it was something they were running out of time to decide, anyway.

"Yes."

"Yes what?"

"Yes, we allow her to complete the transition."


	4. Chapter 4

It was terrifying to imagine forcing this kind of life on a child—a ten-year-old who had been forced into being turned into an immortal vampire after a monster had broken into her home and killed her family for the fun of it, before switching her into the limbo that she was in now during the late stages of her transition. Before, it had been inconceivable to imagine forcing this on someone, but now that the choice had been taken out of her and Damon's hands, the decision wasn't as hard as it would have been had they been the ones to do the turning.

Still it was something that brought a trickle of tears to the corners of her eyes as she envisioned watching a child devour a small amount of human blood from the blood bags that they kept frozen downstairs. It wasn't anything that a child should have had to live with, and it made her sick to her undead stomach as she ran her hand through the girl's dark brown hair.

Alexandra had managed to obtain _some_ sleep after she and Damon had made the little girl calm down once they had gotten her upstairs and into Damon's bedroom. Her little chest rose and fall peacefully, blissfully unaware of the shock that was about to come crashing down to her in only a matter of minutes.

She had sent Damon down to the basement to retrieve a blood bag that would be the golden ticket to ensuring that her transition was as smooth and painless as possible. There was no way they were letting her outside to commit a murder with human blood on her hands.

No way at all.

They would do it the old-fashioned way and allow her to drink blood secondhand much the same way that Elena had done when she had been trapped in the cell next to Stefan, and he had killed the deputy to allow her to satiate the burgeoning desires she had in her system to feed and complete the ugly process to ensure her continued survival as a vampire.

No way should it have _ever_ been replicated with an innocent girl like Alexandra. Her entire life had been flipped upside down with the death of her parents, and now her new life as a vampire. Even though Elena knew that she and Damon would continue, for as long as they had on this earth, to care for her, and guide her along her new life as a kid vampire, it was something that never should have been brought to fruition.

"What's wrong?" Alexandra asked, finally waking up from the imposed rest Damon had made her bask in an hour earlier.

It was a miracle she had managed to get to sleep with all the excitement of a new place to explore and look around, and the confusion and pain following the announcement of her parent's mysterious death.

Elena hadn't been aware she had been crying, but now that Alexandra had brought her back to the present, she could feel the moisture on her cheeks that she had ignored previously when she had been stuck in the pressing thoughts and ramifications of turning a child into a vampire.

"Nothing," Elena assured her, pressing a kiss to her head. "I'm just a little sad right now."

"Why are you sad?"

"I'm just thinking about when my own parents died."

"Your parents did too?" Alexandra asked, her oceanic blue eyes widening in surprise.

In her short decade on the planet, she had never experienced death so close up and personal. All the people in her life, were young like she was, and the idea that her parents could leave her so suddenly, was a concept she hadn't yet wrapped her mind around yet, but to know that these people who had taken her in, had experienced the same thing, was something new altogether.

"In a car accident."

"Oh...how old were you?"

"Young—a few years older than you."

"Why do I feel so weird?" Alexandra asked, broaching the next subject that was pressing and keening to her. Her body, which had always functioned so well and normally, was now rejecting everything she once believed about it.

The food she used to love, now tasted like garbage, and the energy that she once had possessed, was gone to be replaced with an exhausted, tired feeling as she tried to wrap her brain around the impossible circumstances that was still beyond her verbal reasoning.

"Your body is going through a lot of changes right now," Elena explained carefully, trying to think up the best way to tell someone that they would be minutes away from becoming a vampire, someone who was forever living and immortal.

"Like what kind of changes?"

"It's pretty confusing," Elena said honestly, as she listened for the sounds of Damon's approach from the downstairs where he was getting the blood bag for their new little girl.

"Tell me anyway," Alexandra pushed, clearly already inheriting some of Elena's trademark stubbornness.

"I don't know _what_ to tell you," Elena said honestly.

"Tell me _something_," the child pleaded.

"When the man put his wrist up to your mouth, what did you taste?" Elena ventured.

"Something nasty," she said, sticking her tongue out in a show of distaste.

"Something like blood?"

"I...I...guess so. Why?"

"That's what the man fed you."

"_Why_?" she asked, her eyes widening in confusion and even a little bit of fear as she cuddled closer to Elena, feeling sanctuary from her close contact with her.

"He did something very bad to you."

"Like what?"

"I'm not going to explain all of it right now," Elena said gently. "Just know that we love you, and we want to protect you from something happening again."

There was too much for her to know that couldn't be explained in a single sitting. She didn't need to know that she was becoming a vampire at such a young age, but only that she was loved and protected within the close circle of people who had stumbled upon her by complete accident.

"What else could happen?" Alexandra wondered.

"Too much to go into right now," Elena explained truthfully.

"Is what happened to my Mom and Dad going to happen to me?"

"What do you mean?"

"Am I going to die like them?"

Elena shook her head, pulling the little girl close as a splatter of tears fell down her face from the fear that had suddenly assaulted her delicate body. "It will be okay," she promised, without answering the question directly.

Alexandra didn't get a chance to answer. Damon had reappeared in the bedroom, carrying a plastic cup of some dark red liquid that she could barely see around the tight enclosure of the cup that concealed it. Damon had been the one that she had formed a bond with when he and Elena first happened upon her, and seeing him now, brought a sense of comfort to her as she scooted over to allow him to lay down between she and Elena.

For Elena, it was relief mixed in with the dread of knowing that Damon had brought the blood that would complete her shaky transition. Instead of the traditional blood bag that she and Damon were used to, he had taken liberty's, and had improvised with a cup that would conceal the color of the blood.

"I have something for you," Damon said, taking a quick second to meet Elena's frozen gaze as she watched their exchange.

"What?" Alexandra asked, taking in the sight of the cup in his hand.

"Something that will help you feel better," Damon promised softly, hating this just as much as Elena was hating it, because they both knew the wonders (and the downfalls) of being a vampire.

"Okay..." Alexandra said uncertainly, taking the lid off the cup to look at the liquid below. It was a dark red, and the tangy, metallic smell that permeated from the cup, reminded her suspiciously of blood. "What is this?" she asked, looking up frantically to meet their gazes.

"It will help you," Damon said soothingly, patiently.

"What is it?"

"It's...it's a medicine that will help you," Elena said.

"Don't be afraid," Damon said, shaking his head. "Here. I'll hold it while you drink, okay?"

Nodding her head shakily, Alexandra handed the cup back to Damon, and waited patiently while he fitted the cup with a multi—colored straw. Closing her eyes, as though a part of her knew that this would be something different than a normal drink of medicine.

When her lips first came in contact with the straw, she hesitated before sucking in the mysterious liquid that Damon and Elena were so insistent she ingest. It tasted exactly like she thought it would: blood, and that was something she had only come in contact with once before, when her lip had bled and she had accidentally swallowed some.

Making a face of complete disgust, she pulled away from the horrific drink, even though a foreign part of her liked the taste of it, liked the feeling as it slid like silk down her ready throat. It didn't make sense to her, especially when she could feel so many indescribable things happening to her body at once.

Tears glistening the corners of her eyes, she looked up at Damon, trusting him to be honest with her, even though she wasn't sure what the truth was, or even if she wanted to hear it.

"Why did you give me that?" she asked, looking over at Elena, who had been so kind to her, and almost reminded her of her real mother.

"To help you," Damon reiterated.

"But why?"

"Because you were going to die," Elena explained, either ignoring the astonished look on the little girl's face, or not noticing it in the face of trying to explain all that she could with the limited amount of time she had. "And that helped get you better."

"How?"

"I healed you," Damon explained softly, as he reached over her head to put the cup on the nightstand beside her.

"I feel different," Alexandra said, lowering her eyes in accusation at them. "Why?"

"Because something happened to you," Elena began.

"What?"

"You're a vampire now."


	5. Chapter 5

It wasn't possible that she was a vampire. They were mythological creatures that existed _only_ in the badly written texts of books and overused TV shows. There was no way that word applied to her, Alexandra, and there was no way that she had been turned into one of those things because that world, that life didn't exist for her, or for anyone in the real world.

Looking at the people who had so kindly helped her as though they had both lost their ever lasting minds, she went to get up from the bed in a frenzy, wanting to leave the suddenly stifling and terrifying bedroom she had, hours ago, found so comforting, but was immediately stopped when Damon placed a restraining hand on her shoulder, ignoring the look of apprehension that Elena passed over to her.

"You're not going anywhere," Damon said, his voice lowering to a hint of warning as he steered the anxious child back down on the soft bed. "You're a new vampire. You don't know what's happening to you, I understand that, but you're not safe out there."

Damon was the one she had formed such a close bond with already. When he found her, along with Elena, in that alleyway, she had instantly seen a part of him she trusted. It didn't make sense, but it was the presence that he exuded that she had liked, and now for him to be doing something so completely horrific and confusing as to feed her blood, and then to say, in all seriousness, that she was a vampire now, was something that was honestly horrifying to her.

"You're lying to me," Alexandra said, her voice lowering in a complete show of accusation as she folded her arms tightly across her chest.

"Prove me wrong," Damon said, with a shrug, handing her the rest of the cup she had neglected when the first sips of blood had entered her system.

"Get that away from me!" she cried, smacking the drink out of his hand, and watched as the cup spilled all over the hardwood floor in the bedroom. It was as though her eyes were magnets as they zeroed in on the liquid that smelled as delicious and inviting as vanilla or chocolate, as she gulped back the terrified whimper that was on the edge of her lips.

"Alexandra," Elena said softly, as she crouched down beside her. "I know this is a lot to take in, but the blood we gave you, not only healed you, but it transitioned you fully so you wouldn't have to go through what you went through during the transition period.

"I can't be—I can't be what you're saying I am!"

"Then prove us wrong," Damon said calmly. "You tell me you can look at that blood for a minute without diving in headfirst."

"Damon-" Elena started to say, shaking her head, clearly thinking along the lines of tricking the little girl wasn't in their best interests when she was so volatile and unpredictable right then.

"What? If she wants to deny it, then let's see if she can keep up the act."

Alexandra ignored them as she stared at the splattered blood on the ground. It wasn't anything good, it wasn't anything she enjoyed certainly, but when she had first tasted her first drops of that blood, the temptation to finish it, had been so overwhelming that it had nearly overwhelmed her, but she had pulled away out of sheer disgust and fear, then.

"I can't—I can't," Alexandra cried, her voice shaking beyond control as she crumbled to the ground in complete emotional exhaustion for what had befallen her life. "I want it! Why do I want this!" she yelled through tears of frustration and terror, as Elena got down on her knees beside the terrified girl.

"Alexandra," Elena said calmly but gently, as she gently guided her attention away from the cloying scent of the blood, and to her face as she spoke to her. "I know you're scared, honey, I can't even _imagine_ being in your shoes right now, but we're here to help you."

"Why did this happen to me?" she demanded, as she scooped up some of the blood with the tips of her shaking fingers and licked the metallic—tasting liquid off her fingers.

"Because some vampires _aren't_ good," Damon said, as he got down on one knee on her other side, next to Elena. "The one that killed your family, wasn't good. He made you transition into a vampire, and we were the ones who made sure you completed it."

By forcing her to drink blood that while disgusted her, had also secretly been exactly what she had been craving from the get-go. Tears burning her cheeks as they slid down and into her mouth, she looked at Damon, wanting to feel the same peace and safety when she first laid eyes on him, and when she felt it, she felt as though while things would never be the same again, she could feel something _new_ with this new family of hers.

"What would happen if I didn't complete it?"

"You would die," Elena explained. "We didn't feel like we could be the judge, jury and executioners when you already had survived through so much before we even found you."

It was true; she had already survived through having blood forced into her system, before being killed, and then somehow finding herself on the cement floor of an alley where she had been located by Damon and Elena.

"What—what happens now?" Alexandra asked shakily, as she looked at the faint traces of the blood that still remained on her fingers.

"Now we teach you," Damon said gently. "How to be a vampire. It's not as hard as you might think because the only rule that you really need to follow is that you never tell _anyone_ about what you are."

"I kind of figured that," Alexandra said slowly. "I mean, it's like the first rule of this, right?"

"Yeah...it is," Elena said slowly. "How did you know that?"

"I kind of liked vampire books when I thought it was all make believe," Alexandra said sheepishly, looking over at Damon, who rolled his eyes in complete astonishment at the little girl before him.

"You pinkie swear never to tell?"

"I _swear_," Alexandra said, as she hooked her finger with Damon's.

"Good girl."

* * *

Elena was excited for her best friend to come over and meet the little girl who had very quickly captured her love and attention, and even Damon's. Damon had never been her perky blond's favorite person (or vampire) but Elena hoped that she would find it within some deep, distant part of her soul to be cordial to him in front of a little girl that was already struggling with her new reality, and what that meant for her.

Hesitantly deciding to leave Alexandra and Damon in the bedroom while she ventured downstairs to wait for Caroline, she hoped the meeting would go off well and that she would be able to persuade her to invest in one of her favorite hobbies, shopping, for the express purpose of acquiring some much needed clothing for the girl, and some materials and furniture to make her a bedroom of her very own in the mansion.

Caroline didn't knock when she arrived. There was no need to when Elena had been the one to call her. Smiling slightly when she locked eyes with her best friend since grade school, Elena met her in a hug as they walked further into the living room.

"Bonnie said you had some life altering crisis," Caroline said, as she set her new bag down on the table. "What is it?"

"Did she tell you what?" Elena asked uncertainly.

"No, but I figured you'd give me all the deets, anyway."

"We found a little girl," Elena said quietly, knowing that by now, Alexandra's super hearing as a vampire would be more than likely kicking in.

"Where?"

"Out in an alley," Elena said, shaking her head in disbelief at the rapid fire turn of events she and Damon's life had taken in just under an hour. "A vampire attacked her parents, and killed them."

Caroline's soft gasp was the only reaction she had to that news, as she listened for the rest of the story from her best friend.

"And Damon and I brought her back here. The vampire turned her before he left. She was already in transition when we found her."

"Oh, Elena," Caroline said, shaking her head in complete astonishment, much like Elena was still feeling like. "What did you do?"

"We...we...had her complete it."

"Are you kidding?" Caroline said with a groan. "_Why_?"

"Because I couldn't let her die when she had already lived through so much, and before you go on the train that travels to 'Hate Damon Land' I was the one who made the choice to finish it. Not him, and Alexandra, the girl, really has something with Damon, okay? So try to tone it down when you meet her."

"I'll do my best, but no promises."

Knowing that was the best she could get out of her, Elena reluctantly allowed her to follow her back upstairs to where Alexandra and Damon were still cooped up after her mini-breakdown when she had first come to terms with what she was, and the confusion of it surrounding her.

When they first walked into the room, all Elena could see was Alexandra still perched on the floor where she had been when Elena had left them to go answer the door for her friend. When she looked up slowly at the sound of Elena and Caroline's approach, she scooted back as though she was afraid she would hurt one of them, even though that was a completely ridiculous notion.

"Hi," Caroline said, directing her attention to the girl. "I'm Caroline."

"H—Hi," she said, choking back on a sob.

"Is she okay?" Elena asked, looking over at her still boyfriend, who was following Alexandra's every move as she went to walk back over to the bed.

"She's still experiencing the finer points of being a vampire," Damon replied, folding his hands around his knee.

"What does that mean?" Caroline snapped, not in the mood for his cryptic answers.

"Chill, barbie," Damon said, rolling his eyes. "She heard you two talking downstairs. She wasn't aware that vampires have such superb hearing."

Of course she wouldn't. Alexandra was new to any and all aspects of the life, and that included all the physical changes her body would go through as a result of being undead, and permanently frozen at the age she had died in.

"Why do we do that?" Alexandra asked, as she came to sit back down next to Damon. "Why do we have such good hearing if we're...if we're...?"

"Dead?" Caroline supplied uncertainly. "It's one of those perks that can't really be explained."

Alexandra nodded slowly, as though she was trying to process it into a deep corner of her mind where all of that would make sense to her.

"What about this pressure?" she said, moving uncomfortably, as though she was in pain.

"What pressure?" Elena asked, moving to get down on her level to better look into her face.

"My gums," she said, putting her hand on her chin. "They're really painful."

"It's the fangs," Caroline said.

"They come out when you feel an urge to feed," Damon said, as he rubbed her shoulder. "Do you want more blood?"

Elena could see that she was struggling with the right response to that question. It still, understandably, freaked her out to imagine having to depend solely on the sustenance of blood to nourish her, but it was a reality she knew she would have to get used to eventually.

"I...I don't know," she said, as she brought her knuckles up to her mouth, as though trying to push back the cravings she could feel surge through her.

"It's okay if you do," Caroline said, "I have a blood bag in my purse right here."

"Go on," Elena said, nodding encouragingly.

"Okay," Alexandra said, nodding, watching as the blonde slowly got the bag out of her purse, and handed it over to her.

"Do you want me to switch it to the cup?" Damon asked, watching as she looked at the plastic straw with fearful eyes, as though she wasn't sure of what she could and couldn't do.

"Yeah."

Passing it over to him gratefully, the little girl watched as Damon effortlessly switched the blood from the hospital issued cover, to the cup that concealed the sight of it, and only offered her the option of drinking it without having to worry about any residual effects.

Watching as she slowly brought the straw up to her lips and started drinking, Elena sighed, smoothing her hair behind her ears as she stood up from her crouched position to wander into the bathroom, where she and her friend would be guaranteed some privacy.

"What is it?" Caroline asked, as she leaned against the wall.

"Damon and I need to start buying some clothes for her," Elena said, as she looked back at Alexandra as she finally finished the entire blood bag Caroline had given her. "And we need to start thinking about furniture for a bedroom."

"And you came to your best friend in the entire world because you thought I could help?" Caroline said, touching her heart dramatically. "I'm touched, Elena."

"Well," Elena said, "you were the one who organized our entire dorm room, and made sure that my clothes were updated to fit my new and improved college life."

"That is true," Caroline admitted. "So you want to go?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, we can do it whenever."

"Thanks," Elena said, as she walked back out into the main part of the bedroom where Damon and their new little girl were still seated.

"You're leaving?" Damon asked, looking back and forth at his girlfriend and her perky friend.

"To get some things for her," Elena said.

"What kind of things?" Alexandra asked.

"Some new clothes, and some furniture for your new bedroom."

"Can I go?" Alexandra asked, perking up as she momentarily forgot the predicament she had suddenly found herself in.

"I don't know if that's such a good-"

"Of course you can go," Damon said, beginning to stand up.

"Damon," Elena hissed. "Now is not the time when she's just transitioned."

"I'll go with you guys, but the sooner she learns to control the urges out in public, the easier a time she'll have of it."

Elena shook her head, torn about what direction to follow. She knew Damon was right in that Alexandra needed to learn to control that part of her that would want to lash out at people when she saw them, but she wasn't sure if now was the best time.

"Fine," Elena said, "but you need to make sure you keep an eye on her while Caroline and I are looking for things to get her."

"No problem," Damon said, waving his hand like it was no big deal.


	6. Chapter 6

A populated mall was the last place a new vampire should have been. With the crowds all pressed tightly together, and the irresistible smell of the blood, it was a treasure trove of temptation for anyone, much less a child vampire who's emotions were more heightened now thanks to her hours long status as a new vampire. It was the last place she should have been, but in an effort to get her used to people right off the bat, and to get her out of the stifling confines of the house, Elena had reluctantly agreed to allow Alexandra to accompany them on the trip to the mall with Caroline, provided that Damon go with them, which he agreed to.

Still, it made Elena nervous as she glanced around at all the oblivious people brushing past them as they walked to their individual destinations, unaware that a new vampire was right in their midst and could tear their head off without a second thought.

With a kid that still had unpredictable emotions, it was something the parents dealt with and trained them to act appropriately and not let little things upset them, especially if their children were sensitive or had things happen to them as youngsters. With Alexandra, she was ten when she transitioned, and would still have all the usual emotions that went along with that age, only now she was permanently stuck at that complicated, pre-teen age.

Very much aware of this, Elena reached down and grasped her hand, wanting to maintain some kind of control over her while she and Damon followed Caroline down the catwalk of the upper flooring of the mall. Their ultimate stop was unknown to them, but Elena knew that they were going to shop for the clothes first, before going in search of the bedroom furniture that would make up her room once they were done renovating it.

In the meantime, Alexandra would sleep with them, which wasn't something Elena felt too badly about because it gave her the chance to bond with the child, and also make sure that no older vampires who might get wind of her, would try to come and snatch her from them.

Reaching down to squeeze her hand as they walked, Elena tried to keep control over her freaked emotions as she turned a corner in following with Caroline's frenzied pace. Fashion and design had never been her strongest point, and that was why she had recruited Caroline for this excursion.

"Chill," she heard Damon whisper to her.

Looking down, she saw that she had Alexandra's hand in a near death grip in unconscious anticipation of what could happen if she let her guard down, and could see the little girl look at her as though she had suddenly sprouted two heads and a tail.

"I'm sorry," Elena said, loosening her grip on her hand, as she smoothed her hair behind her ear. "It just makes me nervous. All these people," she gestured in the general direction of the largest crowd gathering. "It's not good for her, Damon."

"I think she'll be _fine_," Damon emphasized. "I can tell you right now that you acting like she_ won't _be will screw with her head more than anything. It's okay," he added, when he saw Elena's face fall. "I know it's scary for you, but it's also bad for her-"

"Are you guys going to keep talking about me like I'm not here?" Alexandra asked, whirling around so that she was facing the two of them.

"Busted," Damon said, throwing Elena a grin. "We were just silently conferring with each other about some grown-up things," Damon explained, throwing Elena a pointed glance, which she returned.

"It wasn't _that _silent if I could hear you," Alexandra groused, as she walked in sync between the two of them.

"Sorry," Elena said. "Do you like being here, though? At the mall?"

"I've been here, like, a thousand times before," Alexandra pointed out, blowing out air from between her teeth.

"I thought all you girls like all this sparkly stuff that these places have," Damon said, as he stopped in front of a display stand that was selling stuffed animals from a newly released animated feature. "And these _ridiculous _stuffed animals."

"I like _those_," Alexandra said, raising an eyebrow in silent plea.

"Do you want one?" Damon asked.

"Yes."

"Okay, pick which one," Elena said, giving Damon the kind of look that said they needed to keep moving before she completely drained their pockets of money before they had a chance to buy the real stuff she needed.

"Can I have...two?" Alexandra asked, holding up a fluffy white and black kitten and a puppy with a big pink bow on the front.

"Alexandra-" Elena began, not wanting to start off their new relationship by letting her know that she could get whatever she wanted when she wanted it.

"Of _course _you can have both," Damon said, as he took the stuffed toys from the child to pay for them with the use of one of his limitless credit cards.

"Damon," Elena hissed, shaking her head.

"What?"

"We need to set rules, boundaries. We can't just let her walk all over-"

"Elena," Damon said, putting both his hands on her shoulders as he rubbed soothing lines into them. "Allowing her to get one extra stuffed animal thing isn't going over the top, _or _letting her walk all over us."

"It could set a precedence for the future," Elena pointed out.

"We'll be fine," Damon said, as he handed them back to Alexandra. "I'd be extra nice to Elena right now," he added, catching the smile that the girl threw him, knowing he had intercepted on her behalf.

"Thanks," Alexandra said, turning to Elena. "I just _really _like these," she said, as she stroked the ear of the kitty.

"It's okay," Elena smiled. "I used to have one of those, too. Or...a hundred."

"What did you name them?" Damon asked. "Mr. Flopsy and Cottontail?"

"No," Elena said, crossing her arms over her chest, as she looked down at her sandals. "Mopsy and Mr. Chuckles."

"I used to have one named Bart," Damon said, chuckling at the memory. "When I was five."

"Oh, well, you just have to get more into it," Elena said, as she caught up to the quick strides he was making to drape her arm across his shoulders.

"In your _dreams_, Gilbert."

Smiling, Elena continued walking through the tight throngs of people jockeying for a good spot to reach their favorite store, before she nearly slammed into the back of Caroline who had stopped short right outside a children's clothing store, the first item on their to do list.

"Do you want to go in here?" Caroline asked, turning to Elena.

"Uh, sure. Does this place have stuff that's appropriate for a ten-year-old?" she asked pointedly, glancing inside at all the high-end designer clothes that seemed to graft to the kids who were modeling it on the banner.

"Yeah, duh," Caroline said, waving her concern away with a literal flick of her hand. "And if it's not up to Elena Gilbert standards, I will alter the clothes myself. Deal?"

"Deal," Elena said with a smile, as they walked inside the shop that was crowded with kids trying on clothes for the new and approaching school year. "Damon," she said, looking over at her boyfriend. "You have to watch her while we're in here."

Caroline would be busy chewing her ear off with tips about how to dress her own kid, and she wouldn't have nearly the amount of mental energy to focus on both Alexandra and Caroline's endless chatter at the same time.

"Don't worry. I got it," Damon assured her, as they walked hand-in-hand inside the store.

Following Caroline's lead, they ended up at a rack of new clothes that had just gone on sale. They were cute clothes that had appropriate length and size, but Elena knew that her idea of okay, and Caroline's perception, were two totally different things.

"What do you think about these?" Caroline asked, picking up some shorts and holding them out for Elena to inspect.

"Cute. Do you think they're large enough?"

"Yeah, they should be. Do _you _like them?" Caroline asked, turning to Alexandra.

"Yeah, they're sweet. I like the sparkles along the pockets."

"I know, those are _way _too cute."

Elena smiled, glad Alexandra was starting to come out of her shell a little bit and interact with Caroline, especially when it concerned something they both had a common interest in. Looking down at her though, she could see that she was gluing herself to Elena's side, as all sorts of people pressed in on them in the tight corner they were in.

Running her hand over her chocolate brown hair, Elena looked down at her ans saw that she was swallowing back convulsively as though she was trying to rein herself in before she lost it completely.

"Hey," Elena whispered. "What's going on?"

"I—I," Alexandra said, as she gritted her teeth. "I don't think I can-"

"Sweetheart," Damon said, as he appeared at her side, somehow sensing from a few shelves over that she was having problems. "Are you okay?"

Alexandra shook her head, tears squeezing down her face as she pried herself away from Elena's side. "No."

"Okay," Damon said calmly, "then let's go over here until you feel better, alright?"

Alexandra nodded as she took Damon's hand and allowed him to lead her over to a less populated corner of the shop that would serve as a tool for her to reclaim control over the intense cravings that she was experiencing for the blood that was all around her in spurts.

"It's the blood," she cried. "I can't control it."

"That's okay, it's okay," Damon coached. "Tell me what you see right now."

"I see all these people and all this blood I can have."

"What else do you see?"

"I see a guy really close to me, and I can see the blood move through his neck."

"You know what that is?" Damon asked, as he glanced over at the man in question. "It's the pulse that's pumping the blood through the carotid artery. It's like a siren call to vampires, nearly impossible to beat."

"I need it-" Alexandra said, as she started to get up from her place to go after her victim, but was quickly intercepted by Damon.

"No, you can't do that. You need to stay here and work through this with me."

"I—I can't," Alexandra said, as she crouched down onto the balls of her feet, drawing in ragged breaths as she tried her hardest to keep a lid on the cravings she was experiencing. "I can't do this."

"Yes you can, yes you can," Damon said, copying her movements as he stooped down in front of her. "I need you to breathe for me, okay? Can you do that?"

"No. It's too strong."

"I know it may feel like that right now, and I know that feeling like you wouldn't believe, but I need you to draw breath so you can try to push it down as much as you can."

"I can't-"

"Don't say that," Damon said gently. "Try it for me real quick. 1," he said, demonstrating with his own breaths. "2, 3."

He watched as she attempted to do what he was telling her. Once she completed it, he could see that he had made a small difference, but she was still upset, and his heart ached for this little girl who had been turned against her will by a sadistic monster who had gone after her entire family.

"Ugh!" she cried, as she pushed her knuckles against her mouth, as though that would somehow make it easier. "My mouth hurts!"

"I know, I know," Damon said, using his thumb to massage her cheekbone, hoping to induce as much calm in her as he could. "It's the hunger. Your body registers that now, and then the fangs come out."

"I hate this," Alexandra sobbed. "I don't want to hurt anybody, but I don't think I can control this."

"Try this," Damon suggested. "Try thinking about something that makes you happy."

"Like what?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Anything," Damon replied with a shrug. "Anything that gets you to that happy place. It can be anything at all."

He knew that the concept of training oneself to resist the temptation of blood and not create a massacre, was something that some older vampires struggled with, but he and Stefan had taken the time to train themselves against the intoxicating scent of the blood, and had done a pretty good job of it when they didn't fall off the wagon.

"Twilight," Alexandra murmured softly, as she finally lifted her ocean blue eyes to meet Damon's.

"What?"

"I like Twilight," she said, hiding a coy smile behind her hand.

"You have to got to be _kidding _me," he said with a groan. "That Stephenie Meyer chick doesn't even know the first _thing _about being a vampire, and how would she?"

"I don't know," Alexandra said with a smile as she removed her hand from her mouth. "I like it, though."

"I can sum up that _entire _series in a single breath. 1. An emo, sparkly vampire falls in love with a whipped girl who falls apart the very second he leaves her. Boo freakin' hoo."

"Well, I don't like Edward anyway," she said defensively. "I like Jacob."

"Riiight," Damon said, drawing the word out. "Then there's wolf boy-"

"Jacob," Alexandra corrects him. "His name is _Jacob._"

"Whatever," he said flippantly. "Then you have _Jacob _who is completely in love with this girl, and can't take 'no' for an answer."

"Well, maybe some people see it like that, but I like them. They were more in love than Edward and Bella, but Bella was too stupid to see that." Anger actually flashes across her face at the injustice she felt for Jacob. "Well, at least, he found his happy ending, too."

"Alright," Damon said, placing his hands together. "How about this: I'll read you a chapter from one of the books tonight when we go to bed-"

"Seriously?" she said, her face disbelieving.

"I'd rather stake myself in the heart, but yes."

"Thank you!"

"No problem. Do you feel okay now?"

"A little bit better."

"Do you feel okay enough to go rejoin Elena and Caroline?"

"Yeah," she said, swallowing back thickly as she stood up. "Thanks."

"Anytime, princess."

Damon could tell Elena was relieved he had managed to successfully calm her down. Smiling down at the little girl, Elena ran her hand through her hair again, untangling the knots that had formed in her hair from her restless rest before she had turned.

"Are you feeling better now?" Elena asked, bending her body foreword to talk to her.

"Yeah. Damon said he would read to me later."

"Oh, really?" Elena said, glancing up at her boyfriend, who she could tell was regretting making that promise to her. "What is he going to be reading?"

"Twilight," Alexandra said with a giggle.

"Damon loves Twilight, don't you?" Caroline said, turning abruptly to look at her least favorite vampire. "He used to read it to me."

"We don't need to rehash old history, Caroline," Damon said sweetly, though Elena could detect a hint of venom in his tone that was warning her friend not to push too far when Alexandra was around.

"What?" Alexandra said, trying to follow along with what Caroline was implying, but it was hard when her ten-year-old brain wasn't able to pick up the kind of innuendos that she was eluding to.

"Nothing," Damon said. "Caroline and I used to be friends, and I may have read a passage from the first book."

Damon could tell Elena was annoyed at Caroline for dredging up old history, but she wasn't about to go spilling the beans about what had happened between Damon and her friend in front of Alexandra

* * *

It was late by the time they got back to the boarding house. It had been a little over twenty-four hours since they first found Alexandra, and after the day she had experienced with finally finishing her transition, and then experiencing the masses in the mall, Elena knew that she had to be more than exhausted at that point.

Walking up the stairs with a cup of blood and a small bowl of ice cream to wash it down, she paused outside the door to their bedroom as she heard Damon's soft voice float across to her like the smoothest of waters as he read to their little girl, even though it was from one of his least favorite books in the world.

Every now and then, Elena would hear the scrape of paper as he turned the page to read more, and she almost felt guilty for listening in on such a private moment between the two of them, but she couldn't help listening when it was so rare to see Damon in such a mood like this.

"Thanks for reading to me," Alexandra said quietly.

"You're welcome," Damon said. "An entire chapter dedicated to wolfboy."

"Because he's the best," Alexandra said.

"Maybe he is. I don't know. You're the expert on lame vampires and werefreaks."

Deciding to take that moment to interrupt, Elena walked across the hardwood floor to perch herself on the edge of the bed between Alexandra and Damon.

"Hey, guys. Was the story good?"

"I thoroughly enjoyed it," Damon said, rolling his eyes in a look that was only meant for Elena's eyes to see. "What's that?"

"Part one of your dinner," Elena explained, as she handed the cup to an uncertain Alexandra. "And then I got you some ice cream to wash it down with."

"Thanks," the little girl said, as she gratefully accepted the cup and bowl that Elena offered her.

Elena watched as she swirled the contents of the blood around the bottom of the cup, listening to the unusual sound it made, before hesitantly squeezing her eyes shut and then taking the fateful sips that would define her main nutritional intake for as long as she remained alive on the earth.

Elena could see how much the taste of the blood disgusted her. She could see it from the way her eyes closed, as though she was hating the physical sensation of it, but also secretly loving it as she finally finished the last of it and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

"Good girl," Damon said. "Now as a reward, you can have your ice cream."

"Gee thanks," Alexandra said as she was finally allowed to digest the treat that _still _tasted good after all that time.

"You're welcome."


	7. Chapter 7

_I just want to thank you all for the follows/favorites and reviews. It means the world to me! This chapter will have a little bit of Stefan and Elena friendship thrown in!_

* * *

Watching her sleep was one of the most indescribable feelings to Elena, as she watched Alexandra curl up next to she and Damon as her body turned itself in sleep as she adjusted her position on the bed. It had been a few hours since she had her dinner of blood and ice cream, and had managed to fall asleep once Damon had turned the lights off, and they had all settled down. It wasn't easy for Alexandra to lose herself in sleep when so much had happened to her, but the natural exhaustion she was feeling, won out in the end.

Smoothing her hair back, Elena took one last glance at her new found daughter and rested her head on the most wonderful pillow she could have found for herself: Damon's chest. It served as a subconscious shield to protect her during the night, and it also reminded her of the person she had chosen for better or worse, and the life they were slowly building together with the last minute addition of a little girl that had all but cemented the deal.

Smiling in satisfaction when Damon's arm came to rest around the small of her back, she closed her eyes as she tried to imagine what their life would be like a hundred years from then. Either they would still be together and raising a beautiful daughter, or one or both of them would be gone from the world.

Either way, it wasn't a pretty ending to imagine, but it was one that was almost constantly on her mind as the Traveler witches got closer and closer to Mystic Falls, and their own immortality was questioned as a result of that.

Roused from her disturbing thoughts when Alexandra moved in the direction of Damon, Elena smiled. Either they were cut from the same cloth as far as being able to scout out the decent guys, or she had just naturally formed a bond with him when he had been the one to really take the time and effort to get to know her, and comfort her, and have the chance to be a father that was taken from him in 1864.

"Daddy's girl," Elena whispered with a smile. "She knows you care about her, Damon."

"I care about _her_," Damon replied seriously. "_Both_ of my girls," he added, as he kissed Alexandra on the forehead, before moving to Elena and giving her a more intimate kiss on the lips.

"How is it possible that we found her when we did? Right before I was supposed to go off to college again, and when the world is constantly changing and revolving around us?"

"Fate is a nasty thing," Damon said, shrugging. "Figured the powers that be plopped her in our laps because they can't stand the idea of us being forced apart by something as trivial as school."

"Damon-"

"We have our entire lives and beyond that to go back to college. Right now, I'm more concerned about getting rid of the Traveler witches, and having this town be safe to raise our family in."

"I want that, too," Elena said quietly so she wouldn't wake Alexandra up.

"The Travelers are getting closer to Mystic Falls," Damon remarked, as he checked his phone. "Stefan and Caroline have been trying to figure out a way to head them in another direction. But-"

"What do we do if they find us?" Elena asked, looking down at Alexandra. "They can't find her, Damon."

"They won't," Damon assured her. "I'll fix it somehow. I don't know how, but I will."

"But don't get yourself killed," Elena said, shaking her head as tears burned the corners of her eyes at the thought of what would happen if Damon were to die.

"Hey," Damon said, seeing the look in her eyes as he reached up a hand to swipe the tears away. "I am not leaving you. Or her," he added, looking down at their daughter's sleeping form.

"What if you can't help it?"

"Then I'll do everything in my power to prevent it. We should know more tomorrow when Stefan comes back."

"Yeah, I know."

Trying to settle down before she completely lost it, Elena adjusted her position on Damon's chest and tried to lose herself in the blissful rest her daughter was basking in. It was hard when so much was swirling around the vortex in her mind, but with Damon's firm and unbreakable grasp on her, she knew that it would be fine because it had to be.

* * *

To Elena's relief, she managed to sleep in without too much difficulty, as did her daughter and Damon. Either it was the exhaustion from all that happened the previous day, or it was simply the fact that there was nothing brewing in the air to interrupt them from that peaceful slumber.

When it finally did happen, it came when Alexandra accidentally pushed a leg in Elena's side, jabbing her in the ribs. Groaning in discomfort, Elena moved out of the way of the surprise attack, and blinked her eyes open. The little girl was squirming around the bed, as she obviously tried to ward off a bad dream that was holding her hostage.

Wincing softly in sympathy for her plight, she reached over and gently shook the child's shoulder to induce awareness into her so that she wouldn't have to suffer through anymore.

"Hey," Elena said softly, as Alexandra finally opened her blue eyes. "How did you sleep?"

"Okay. I didn't know vampires could sleep," Alexandra admitted.

"You got to stop listening to Twilight," Damon moaned, as he finally woke up. "We do sleep, only in our circumstance, it's actually a lot easier for us than it is for normal people."

"So what are we doing today?" Alexandra asked, as she went over to the pile of clothes Elena had left for her on the chair in the corner of the room.

"Stefan, my brother," Damon explained. "Is cruising back into town today. Hopefully with information on the Travelers."

"What are those?" Alexandra asked, as she gave Damon a pointed look. "And do you mind giving me some privacy while I get dressed?"

Damon resisted the urge to laugh, and instead pointed at the open bathroom in the corner of the room. "Bathroom's all yours, kid. The Travelers are a group of psychotic witches who are taking over the damn town."

"Why is that?"

"Who knows? But we have to find a way to stop them, and by stop, I mean kill," Damon said. "There's only so much freaky mind control they can do before it gets old."

"They can mind control you?" Alexandra asked as she stepped out from behind the privacy of the bathroom.

"Yep. It's a pain in the ass trick they can do."

"But we have a handle on it," Elena said, giving Damon a pointed look. "Come on. Let's get downstairs and get some breakfast."

The little girl was silent as they made their way down the expansive flight of stairs, and around the corner into the kitchen where she seated herself at the counter as she waited for her breakfast expectantly.

"What are we having?" Alexandra asked, as she watched Elena dig around the fridge for the items she wanted.

"Blood," Elena said, grimacing when she saw the look on the kid's face that made it clear she didn't prefer that item to be on the menu. "And some eggs and bacon...if I can find any."

"Third shelf," Damon said automatically, as he came over to the counter. "Do you want the blood in the microwave first?" he asked Alexandra.

"We can do that?"

"Sure. I do it all the time."

"Okay...yeah."

"Trust me, it tastes a lot better this way," Damon said, as he squeezed some of the blood into the mug before placing it into the microwave.

"Thanks," the little girl said as Damon handed her the warmed cup.

"No problem."

"Did you hear from Stefan?" Elena asked, as she found the food she wanted, and prepared to heat it above the stove top.

"Yup. Baby bro should be walking through the door any time now."

"Alright, good."

The threat of the Travelers was one pressing concern Elena hadn't been able to rid from her mind as she got the food off the stove, and handed it over along with the blood cup to Alexandra.

"Does Stefan know about me?" Alexandra asked curiously, as she noticeably saved her cup for last in favor of enjoying the food she still enjoyed.

"I don't know. Unless Barbie spilled her guts-" Damon began with a shrug, but was interrupted by the opening and closing of a door in the other room. "Baby bro just arrived."

Elena tensed, knowing how Stefan would probably feel about her doing all the things she promised they would do together, with Damon. It was a different lifetime, a time where she had been human and so sure of her love for him, but that had died right along with her human life the night the truck drove off the bridge and into the lake.

Now more than ever, she was convinced of her love for Damon, and the fact that this little girl had been placed in their lives for a reason that was far beyond any of their understanding, but one that she and Damon had both accepted in their lives.

"Hey," Stefan said, as he walked through the kitchen, throwing his bag of things down on the empty kitchen table. "Caroline and I just got back."

"From your kamikaze mission, you mean," Damon clarified. "Both of you riding off into the sunset toward a common goal."

"Well, in this case, that "goal" works toward exterminating the Travelers from existence," Stefan said. "We had no choice, we had to figure out what they know and what their aim is in all this."

"Hey, I get it," Damon said. "Next time you leave for a week, send a postcard."

"I would have if I could have. Once Caroline joined me a few days ago, we were able to get some stuff done."

"Like what?" Elena asked, leaning across the counter to look at him.

"They got inside my mind," Stefan said, heaving a deep sigh. "I couldn't really stop them, and they were able to figure out that another doppleganger exists."

"Through what?"

"Through me."

"Ugh, one of you is bad enough," Damon said, rolling his eyes.

"And they're also trying to make Mystic Falls a magic free zone."

"What does that mean?" Damon asked, as he finally moved from where he had been blocking Alexandra from view.

"It means, probably, that the magic we were relying on, might not work anymore," Stefan said, as he wiggled his daylight ring in front of Damon's face.

"Ergo our nifty daylight rings won't work," Damon said, sighing. "Great. Any other nifty news you came to share, brother?"

"No, that was about it, actually. Who's this?" he asked, shifting his focus to Alexandra who had remained quiet throughout the exchange between Elena and Damon and the newcomer.

"This is...Alexandra," Elena said, as she ran her hand through her daughter's silky hair. "Damon and I found her the other day."

"Where?" Stefan asked, raising an eyebrow.

"In an alley," Damon said, as he watched Elena clear away some of the plates from the counter. "A vampire attacked her family, and she was spared but the vamp made her transition."

"You had her complete it?" Stefan asked, stating the obvious.

"Yeah," Elena said, nodding. "She already survived through so much, and I just didn't think it was our call to decide if she died or not."

"So what's the plan?" Stefan asked.

"We raise her and we protect her from anyone that wants to hurt her," Elena said with a shrug, as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Where's Bonnie? Did you hear from her yet?"

"She should be right behind me."

Now that Bonnie was powerless as an ex-witch, their options for having a backup were limited. It wasn't as though they could compel one out of thin air to aide them in their desperate mission to rid the world of Travelers, but there had to be one that would be willing to take the risk for the common goal of making the world a safer, less dangerous place.

"Okay, good. Did she tell you anything about a backup witch?" Elena asked, feeling guilty, as though she was betraying her best friend by having another witch help them.

"The one you met at Whitmore," Stefan said, avoiding her piercing, questioning gaze as he pretended to be interested in examining his cuticles. "Do you want to take a walk with me?"

"Uh...sure," Elena said, shrugging. "Yeah, it will be good to catch up."

"I think so too."

* * *

Walking down the driveway and then out on the street with Stefan, felt good, felt like something she had been missing for some time. It was strange, because even though she knew what her heart was telling her to do with Damon, and the new family they were building together, it didn't stop her from loving Stefan.

That had always been a problem in their relationship. She had fooled herself into believing she was "in" love with him for months after he came back from his self-imposed journey with Klaus, and then when she finally admitted it to herself (and to the two men in her life), there was that part of her that knew that, no matter what happened with Damon, Stefan would always be a part of her life.

But could she keep her feelings in check?

That was a question she was hoping to have answered during this walk with Stefan. It was the first time either of them had been alone with the other since she had chosen Damon, and while Elena wasn't blind and knew that Stefan was hurting because of her choice, she had to at least try to make him understand, and move toward some kind of understand that would benefit them both.

"This feels nice," Stefan commented, as they walked on the side of the road. "It's been awhile since I've had you to myself."

Elena nodded, pursing her lips together in tension, wondering what to say that would seem natural and light, and more like the Elena that Stefan knew.

"I know. We've kind of missed each other lately."

"Yeah, I know. I've been with Caroline, and you..." he trailed off as he gestured vaguely in the opposite direction.

"How is that?"

"What?"

"You and Caroline," Elena commented interestedly.

For someone who loved to gossip as much as Caroline did, she had been surprisingly tight-lipped about a possible romance with Stefan. Elena understood her reticence in sharing something so personal with her, but she didn't want it to be awkward.

"Oh, it's good, it really is."

"So," Elena said teasingly. "Are you two, like, official now?"

"Me and her?" Stefan asked incredulously. "No, no. We're good friends that's all."

"Oh, okay."

They walked a few more moments in easy silence. This felt natural to her, being with Stefan. She had known him for so long that talking to him and relating to him, wasn't as hard as she imagined it would be after the tenseness surrounding the uncertainty of their new relationship, was established.

"Alexandra," Stefan began, "she's really adorable."

"She is," Elena agreed, a smile creeping across her face. "She just...happened, I guess."

"How is Damon handling sudden fatherhood?" Stefan asked, an amused smirk coming across his face.

Out of the two, Stefan would naturally be the one that most people would assume would carry the role of father first, even as his status as the younger brother, but Damon had surprised Elena with how naturally he interacted with Alexandra.

"He's actually doing pretty remarkable," Elena said, shrugging. "Alexandra is a total Daddy's girl."

Stefan smiled. "Damon does have that effect on people, where they feel they can trust him. I'm glad, though."

"Are you?"

They had never talked about the nature of their breakup, or why she had finally chosen Damon after nearly four years of going back and forth between them.

"I am."

"I'm glad-"

"I'm just curious," Stefan said, "and I'm sorry if this is awkward."

"What?" Elena asked, her pace slowing down automatically.

"It doesn't really matter," Stefan forewarned, "but I just want to know when the moment was that I lost you."

The question momentarily stunned Elena. She hadn't really considered when the exact moment was that she had given herself over to Damon, her whole being. It was something that happened naturally, a progression that happened subtly and without much warning.

In a big way, she still loved Stefan. The difference was the intensity and the type of love she harbored for her life savor. She was in love with Damon—she wasn't in love with Stefan anymore.

"It's...It's complicated, Stefan," Elena replied softly, as she fixed a strand of hair behind her ear as she stopped fully and turned to face her onetime boyfriend. "I was so in love with you for so long that I was blind to what was going on behind the scenes."

"You mean with Damon," he said, nothing in his voice but calm acceptance. "You were also in love with Damon."

"Not at first," she corrected him. "He was the guy that I hated and the one that became my friend against it all."

"And then?"

"I don't know when the exact moment was. I think I was fooling myself for so long because I didn't want to know what it would feel like to be away from you, because you were safe."

"Right, and then what? Was it right after Klaus?"

"We bonded, Stefan," Elena said softly, trying to make him realize. "We had two months where our attention was focused solely on making sure that we got you back. Once we did, I tried to make it work with you, I did."

"I know you did," Stefan said, sounding like she didn't, was the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard. "It was just fate or we just weren't meant to be together."

"You came into my life for a reason," Elena said, "and I know this is selfish of me to say, but I still need you in my life."

"As friends?"

"I'm sorry...forget what I said."

How stupid could she be to expect that Stefan would still want to be her friend after everything she had done to hurt him? Even if it wasn't anything intentional on her part.

"No, no," he said, shaking his head. "I want to be a part of your life, Elena. I do. I want to be the kind of uncle that spoils his niece rotten, and I want to be a good friend to you."

"I would like that."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."


	8. Chapter 8

Elena was relieved she and Stefan had managed to secure that final ounce of closure in their relationship. The word was ripe with implications and farewells, but she knew that instead of him departing from her life in a permanent way, he would be a part of it in a much healthier and happier way for both of them. He wanted to know when he lost her to his brother, but she didn't have the exact answer that he wanted, and had instead chose to tell him what she felt like she was supposed to, and where her heart had been when she had made the fateful choice by the fire.

Stefan was hurt—she could see that just by looking into those eyes that had sustained her through a lot and had made her believe in love and life again after her parents—but she also knew him well enough to know that he was happy for she and Damon. According to what he recalled, Damon had been searching for love and acceptance nearly his entire life.

First from his father, who was incapable of giving him the kind of attention he was craving, and then from Katherine who had brutally broken his heart after nearly a century of searching desperately for her. Thinking about that manipulative slut and how she had hurt Damon, brought a chill of anger down her spine as she increased the pace she was walking as she Stefan made their way back to the boarding house.

She never dreamed that she would fall for Damon after all the horrible things he had done to push her away, but fate and all that destiny crap, apparently had other plans for her life. Instead of looking at him with the revulsion she once felt, all she felt now was an overwhelming peace with her life, especially with their newest addition to the family.

Alexandra had been the final piece in the puzzle that had already been coming together for some time. In the space of just over two days, she had completely stolen and captured their hearts, and made the keening sense of urgency in getting rid of the Traveler vampires, all that much more pressing, especially if they were serious about going through with their plans of making Mystic Falls a magic-free zone.

Thinking about the kinds of things that would happen if the Travelers got their wish, was enough to make the hairs on the back of her neck stand at attention, as she and Stefan finally turned the corner into the mile-long driveway, and started toward the front door.

"Hey," Stefan said, catching her arm just as she was about to swing the door open. "Are you okay, Elena?"

Stefan had known her for so long that he was able to pick up on her different mood changes without much of a problem. It was clear to him that something either he had said, or something that flashed across her mind, had been enough to make an impact on her.

"Yeah...Yeah. I'm fine," Elena said, meeting his gaze squarely. "It's just with everything going on with the Travelers and Markos, we have a little girl to protect, and what if something happens to her?"

"It won't," Stefan assured her, shaking his head. "We'll figure out something."

"Like what?"

"We can evacuate Mystic Falls, or we can come up with a plan of attack and make sure they're killed off the face of the earth."

Elena tried to feel comfort in his promise, but she knew that it was only something he could guarantee as long as they stayed one step ahead of their enemies. If something were to happen by surprise, she knew there would be nothing they could do to stop it.

"Thank you," Elena said.

"For what?"

"For making me feel better."

"You're welcome."

Finally wrenching the door open, she was greeted by the almost immediate sound of Damon's soft voice floating across the room as he read out of a book to their daughter. His voice was was as soft as a whisper as Elena walked into the living room, and saw the two of them cuddled on the couch together as he read out of a fairy tale volume.

"Hey," Elena said, as she plopped down on the sofa next to them. "What are you reading?"

"Snow-White," Alexandra said, taking her eyes off the page to look at Elena. "Snow-White just got poisoned."

"By that dirty apple?" Stefan asked, taking a seat on the arm of the chair.

"Nope," Damon said. "It was a clean apple, but the evil Queen decided to take it upon herself to make sure that innocent Snow-White never stole her beauty and attention again."

"Yeah," Stefan said, rolling his eyes. "I know how the story goes, Damon."

"Good to know," Damon said, as he marked their place before setting the book down. "Let's finish this tonight, okay?"

Alexandra nodded, clearly not happy with that idea, but also knowing that there were other important things happening that she had no clue about, and wouldn't likely hear from the adults, who still seemed to think that she was a little kid who needed to be shielded.

It was annoying and bothersome, but she knew that just because she was a vampire, it didn't mean she was immune from punishment or from people telling her what to do at any given time.

"Okay."

"Where's Bonnie?" Elena asked, as she rested her feet in Damon's lap.

She hadn't heard from her ex-witch best friend since the night she and Damon brought home Alexandra. Either Bonnie was MIA as she processed the frightening news that her friend and Damon had found a vampire child, or she was busy trying to communicate with some witches that could help them.

"Who knows?" Damon said, flipping his hand in the air. "Probably trying to find a way to save our hide."

"You think?" Elena asked, as she grabbed a brush to sweep it through her daughter's tangly hair. "Stay still," she said, when Alexandra moved uncomfortably.

"It hurts though," Alexandra complained.

"You're fine," Damon said, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, right," Alexandra grumbled, as Elena finally stopped doing the brushing and left her alone. "Thank you," she added grudgingly when Damon gave her a pointed look.

"You're welcome."

"What's going to be the plan if we have to leave suddenly?" Stefan asked, as he took to pacing across the room as his brain tried to come up with a plan of action should something happen.

"You mean if the Travelers switch off our lifelines?" Damon asked, showing his ring on his finger.

Stefan nodded. "Yeah. What do we do?"

"Get the hell out of dodge. The spell only affects Mystic Falls, right?"

Stefan nodded. "Right."

"So we have to slum it somewhere until the town is safe again."

"There's no guarantee," Elena said, running her hands over her face. "That if we kill them, Markos included, that the spell over Mystic Falls will be destroyed."

"True," Damon said, "but we're not going to come back until we know for sure it's fine."

"How are we going to know?" Stefan asked.

"Send a poor unfortunate soul to be our tester?" Damon suggested.

"Damon-" Elena started, rolling her eyes and giving him the kind of look that meant that he would be in big trouble later on.

"What?" Damon said, throwing his hands up in the air. "It's true."

"I know," Elena said. "So do we start packing?"

"Bonnie said they're getting closer," Stefan said. "Caroline stayed behind to make sure they didn't get close, but there's not a lot she can do if they go through her."

"I know," Elena said, sighing as she stood up. "Let's go, then."

It was a terrifying option: running and risk having the spell be activated then, or risk staying and having the spell activated and have them be at risk of dying through the human deaths they went through before their transition.

Climbing up the stairs to her bedroom that she shared with Damon, Elena reached under the bed for her duffel bag, before moving to the trunk at the food of their bed, and sorting through the different clothes she had stored in there.

There wasn't a lot to choose from, but she decided to take it all as she shoved as much as the bag was willing to carry for her. Also grabbing Alexandra's clothes, she shoved them in there, too, and called it good. There wasn't a lot they needed, and the rest they would be able to replace later.

"Hey," Damon said, leaning against the door frame as he watched her. "You about ready to hit the road?"

"Yeah," Elena said, nodding. "I think I got everything-"

"And if you didn't," Damon said, as he stepped into the room, cupping her face with his gentle touch. "We can replace it later on."

"I know. Do you think this will work?"

"It has to. We'll get out before it's too late."

The other option was going through the same deaths they went through as humans, but as long as they escaped from the perimeter of Mystic Falls before it took full effect, they would be fine.

"What about Alexandra?" Elena asked, pushing the hair out from around her face.

"What about her?"

"Do you think she'll be okay?"

"Anywhere we are, she'll be fine," Damon said. "I promise you."

"Okay."

Giving him a grateful smile, she allowed him to take her bag. As they walked back down the stairs, she heard Stefan's low voice as he told some kind of joke to the little girl that made her laugh. It was a sweet sound, and one that she seldom heard with all the confusion and fear that had been placed in her delicate life.

"Hey," Elena said, as she watched Damon place their bags by the front door. "What are you guys talking about?"

"We were talking about the time Damon," Stefan said, looking over at his brother. "Tried to get on his horse, and the horse bucked him off in the manure pile."

Alexandra laughed, clearly enjoying the tale about her adoptive father, even though she could tell that Damon didn't think it was hilarious at all.

"I'll kill you, brother," Damon said, smiling a fake smile that meant retribution was close on the horizon.

"No, you won't," Stefan said bluntly.

"You don't know that."

"Anyway," Elena said, shrugging her coat on, and handing Alexandra hers. "We have to go before the magic-" she was abruptly cut off with a dry hack as she coughed up a stream of murky water, water that looked suspiciously familiar to her. "Damon-"

"No," Damon said, shaking his head. "Come on. We have to go now!"

The spell was in affect, and not even Caroline and her determination, could have stopped the Travelers from activating it. Racing to get the rest of their stuff together, he ignored the sharp pain in his back that signaled the gun-shot wound he had suffered from as a human, was now in affect again.

His undead heart pounding with determination and fear, he herded everyone out of the house as fast as he could and into his waiting Camaro.

"Let's go," Stefan said, his teeth clenched against the pain of the wounds he was suffering from, as he climbed into the front seat with Damon, and watched as Elena carefully escorted a scared stiff Alexandra into the backseat with her. "Elena, are you-"

"I'm fine. Let's hurry, though."

"What about Alexandra?" Damon asked, looking as far into the backseat as he could, as his car fled the house as fast as it could.

"She's okay for right now," Elena said, her voice tight.

"Okay."

* * *

_Uh-oh_


	9. Chapter 9

Fear.

Desperation.

Confusion.

Determination.

Elena was sure she was feeling the entire ugly rainbow of negative human emotion as the Camaro carrying three of the most important people in the world to her, barreled down the back country roads and out of the once safe setting of Mystic Falls, their home, which had now been turned against them by the cunning actions of the Travelers.

Sighing softly as she looked down at Alexandra, who had fallen asleep in her lap after the initial fear had subsided, she looked out the window at the passing scenery and tried to feel some amount of calm that they were now in the safe zone, but couldn't.

They had lost their home to a bunch of overpowered witches who didn't know the shaky difference between right and wrong, good and evil. They were doing more harm than good by eliminating the lifesaving element of magic, and reducing most of its core supernatural residents, to dust and ash if they hadn't been able to escape in time before the daylight rings wore out.

Pursing her lips together into a fine line, she shook her head in incredulity at the situation they had been forced into, and not by their own choice or actions. Someone had forced their hand, had forced them to run and now make a crucial decision about whether or not to stay hidden and safe, or risk going back to take care of them for good.

Tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear, she looked down at the time on her phone. It was nearly ten in the evening. They had been driving, by her best estimation, for nearly three hours. Caroline had been alerted to what had happened, and she and Bonnie were meeting them at a location not far from Whitmore college.

"How much longer? And where are we meeting them exactly?" Elena asked, her voice cracked from not using it much during the long journey.

"Not too much longer," Damon said softly, as he reached a hand behind him to squeeze Elena's knee.

"It's an apartment," Stefan explained. "It's right near the Whitmore campus."

"Is it safe there?" Elena asked, not particularly liking the idea of going into a place that wasn't spelled against something else happening to them, especially with her daughter's life now at stake.

"Yeah," Damon said. "They don't know where it is, the Travelers, and even if they did, their main goal is taking over Mystic Falls right now."

"I know."

"Bonnie's trying to recruit Liv right now," Stefan said, as he checked his phone for incoming messages. "But we need to try to work out a plan that will get rid of them permanently."

"You mean, mass murder," Damon corrected. "I'm all for it."

"Damon-" Elena started, not too keen on the idea of some big murder fest taking place right near their daughter.

"Don't '_Damon_' me," Damon replied, rolling his eyes. "We won't do anything near you guys, but we need to get rid of them."

"Otherwise," Stefan said, "they'll just keep finding new ways to torment us."

"Okay, but find something that keeps _all_ of us safe," Elena said. "And by 'all of us', I mean you two, too."

"We know," Damon said, his tone softening in response to the look that he could see Elena throwing him from the rearview mirror. "How's our little girl doing back there?"

The first few minutes of the drive, had been one that Damon would have done anything to forget. Alexandra had been forced to spend a few minutes painfully reliving her death only a few days previously, and had then fallen asleep out of sheer exhaustion once everything had finally stopped once they passed through the town limits.

"She's okay. She's exhausted, though."

"I'll bet," Damon said, as he turned onto the first road on the left that seemed to lead to a more populated area than the one they had been traveling on. Looking out, Elena could see monuments and signs that she knew led to Whitmore, and beyond that, could see the row of apartments that they would be crashing at for the time being.

"Is this the place?" Stefan asked, as Damon pulled into the secluded parking lot.

"No. This is a pit stop along the way," Damon said sarcastically. "Dumb isn't cute."

"And your Damon sense of humor isn't cute either," Stefan retorted, as he got out first and opened the back door for Elena to slide out with Alexandra.

Looking down at her daughter, Elena could see the little girl move slightly in response to the fact that the lulling motion of the car that had put her to sleep in the first place, was no longer happening, and even though she had stirred, she seemed to go right back to sleep.

Torn about what to do and if she should wake her or not, Elena bit down on her lip and waited for Damon to appear at her side to inform her of their next move.

"I got her," Damon said quietly, as he gently scooped up the child in his arms and carried her in through the door that Stefan held open for him, and up a flight of stairs to the narrow second story landing, and to a door at the end of the hall that had a "warning" sign plastered on the front.

"Is this it?" Elena whispered, careful not to wake any of the other tenants in the building.

"Yeah," Stefan said, as he knocked twice, his signal to Caroline and Bonnie. "We figured no one would know we were in here if it was supposed to be blocked off."

"That's unusually intelligent of you," Damon remarked, as he shifted Alexandra's weight to his other side. "How much time do we have?"

"Oh, don't worry," Caroline said, as she finally decided to grant them access to their hideaway. "The original owner is dead so the place is access—easy for us, and I compelled the residents not to breathe a _word_ of this to anyone."

"Nice going," Stefan said, as he stepped over the threshold of the apartment to enter the two bedroom apartment that had become a sanctuary for them to figure out a plan of attack against their enemies.

"Wait, how is the owner dead?" Elena asked. "Did you-"

"No!" Caroline exclaimed, sounding as if the notion she would kill someone to achieve a means, was ridiculous. "That's Damon, not me."

"I'm flattered," Damon said, shaking his head in mild bemusement as he walked over to the couch to lay Alexandra down on. "So now Mystic Falls is a no-vampire zone, which means if we don't want to be sitting quackers for the rest of eternity, we have to figure out a plan."

"And by plan-" Bonnie said, as she finally entered the room, giving Elena a careful hug before looking at Damon.

"Oh, I mean mass murder."

The idea of planning something as serious as planning to massacre an entire group of ancient witches, wasn't something that either of the group took lightly as they gathered around the dining room where they could talk, and still keep a careful eye on Alexandra to make sure that nothing happened to her with her being the most vulnerable of all of them.

"So what can we do?" Elena asked, as she took a seat next to Damon. "What can possibly be big enough to kill a group of Travelers who have probably passengered themselves into who knows who by now."

"We gather them in one place," Stefan said thoughtfully, as he looked over a map of Mystic Falls that someone had thought to bring along. "We gather them in an inconspicuous place and then we blow them up."

"Coming from you, that's pretty huge," Damon commented. "But where could we do it?"

"And what about civilian casualties?" Bonnie asked, voicing the concern that no one wanted to bring up because they knew that lives would have to be sacrificed in order for their plan to go off without a hitch.

"No matter what we do," Elena said, looking at her best friend, "people will die."

"Yeah, they pretty much secured that," Caroline said resentfully. "So what place is huge enough to do it?"

"What about the Grille?" Bonnie said, still clearly not in complete agreement with an idea that would lead to more chaos and death, but also realizing she didn't have a choice.

"What about it, judgy?" Damon asked, not taking his eyes off the map of the town that was splayed out in front of him.

"What if someone," Bonnie said, giving him a withering look. "Lures them into the Grille and we blow it up?"

There was deafening silence following her words. An explosion would take care of almost all of their problems, and make it possible to reclaim their home again, but the pitfalls of doing that and having something go wrong, was equally as high as the chance of having it all be over with finally.

"How do we do it?" Stefan asked, rubbing his hand across his chin thoughtfully.

He didn't like the idea of doing something so risky—but the time for sitting by idly while the Travelers passengered themselves into more people, had come to an end and action needed to be taken if they wanted to create a safe environment for their friends and family.

"There's a gas main that runs underneath the town," Damon said, as his sharp eyes zeroed in on the mains. "One begins at the Grille. We can start a leak, we'll have about twenty minutes before anyone can smell it."

"And then what?" Elena said, looking over at the couch where Alexandra was starting to slowly stir.

Anything that brought the danger away from her daughter, was a risk she would be willing to take, but not at the cost of more lives, not at the cost of someone she loved, dying.

"Then the Grille goes kaboom," Damon said, looking over at her. "Then hopefully the danger will be over and we can go back home."

Elena nodded, biting down on her thumb, knowing there was more to it than what Damon was telling her, but also not wanting to push him on it when she was scared stiff of what the answer would be.

"What are you guys talking about?" Alexandra asked, her voice still heavy with sleep as she raised her little body up into a sitting position. "Where are we?"

"We're at a safe place," Damon said, as he walked out from around the table he had been gathered around with Elena and Stefan and their friends. "We're not too far from Mystic Falls."

"What are you talking about?"

"Just a little procedure," Damon said softly, as he kneeled down in front of her.

"What's that mean?"

"It means you don't have to worry," Elena said firmly, trying to keep the horrible truth about what they would have to do, from her daughter. "We got it all under control."

She could tell the little girl didn't believe her entirely. She was too smart for her own good. Elena sighed softly as she smoothed her hair back from her face. "It will be okay."

"The grownups say that when something bad is about to happen," Alexandra said, looking pointedly at her adoptive mother and father.

"Well, that's technically true," Damon said, "but we got everything under control, and it's fine."

"Promise?"

"I promise you. We're just trying to figure out a way we can go back home."

"Without the bad people trying to hurt us?" Alexandra asked quietly, lifting her head up to look at Damon and Elena.

"Exactly," Elena said, giving her a small smile, even though in reality, she felt like crying.

"Okay."

"I love you."

"I love you, too."

* * *

It was rare that Elena and Damon were afforded the chance to slip away and go off somewhere private, but Elena needed that time with him before the plan was activated and so much would either change for the better, or for the worst. Leaving Stefan and the others to watch Alexandra while she stole some time with her man, was a must for her.

"You okay?" Damon asked, perhaps sensing how tense and unnaturally quiet his girlfriend was as they stopped at a point behind the apartment where they had gone off to talk.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Elena said, nodding her head as though performing that simple action would convince herself of that as much as Damon. "So you good?"

To her knowledge, Damon had locked down the finer points of the plan with the people that were still in Mystic Falls, including Jeremy and Matt and even Liz, who would prove to be a crucial part of making sure the Travelers gathered in one place by faking a gas leak emergency.

"Operation massacre. Assuming Donovan knows the difference between a water main and a gas main, yeah I'm good."

Elena smiled; she couldn't help it when he spoke so self—assuredly about his plans of blowing up the Grille and sending a dozen Travelers to their deaths, not to mention with the very real risk of something going wrong.

What, she couldn't imagine, but she knew it was the story of their lives where unexpected loopholes were concerned. The whole idea made her nervous, though there was little she could do to stop it when the sense of urgency related to killing them, was nearly at its peak.

"He'll know," Elena said, shaking her head in amusement. "Believe me."

"Listen," Damon said, avoiding her gaze for a heartbeat of a second, before looking at her again. "I wanted to spare you the gory details, but then I figured, 'well I'll be lying and the whole point of saving the universe would be moot, because you'd be pissed.'

So here it is: Project Kaboom, needs someone to trigger the explosion, so to speak," he added.

Elena didn't understand at first—didn't understand why he would even be concerned about keeping something like that a secret from her, until the disjointed pieces of the puzzle clicked together in her brain, and fear instantly seized her heart as she looked at him.

"_You_?" She demanded incredulously, not feeling any more better when he lifted his arms up in a shrug. "No, Damon. Absolutely not. _No_!"

Was he insane? Was he really that stupid enough to go charging head first into the line of fire when so much could go wrong with that plan? He was a vampire, but he wasn't invincible from explosions, especially ones that would be powerful enough to take out an entire restaurant.

"Ah," Damon said, nodding his head as though he should have seen her reaction coming. "Go with your first instinct, Damon. Lesson learned."

Elena had no time to feel any amusement from his tone that was clearly meant to put her at ease, and not get her so worked up over the fact he would be cruising along to his death.

"Listen to me," she said, panic overcoming her senses as she placed her palms against Damon's cheeks. "Do you see a future with me? With our _daughter_? Because that's _all_ I see."

They had just established a shaky sense of normal with Alexandra, and for him to propose doing something so reckless, was an outcome she hadn't ever anticipated, even with knowing how far he was willing to go to protect the ones that mattered to him.

"Elena," Damon said, placing his hands on top of hers. "I have seen it since the second I laid eyes on you."

"Then don't go on a suicide mission!"

"Listen," Damon said, rushing to calm her. "Technically, it's only half a suicide mission, because we're going to be bringing people back, and I'm going to be one of them."

"Then what if something goes wrong?"

"Not to relive old fights, but this is my choice, and I need you to _respect _it."

"That was a low blow."

How many times had she used that argument for her own purpose when she wanted to do something reckless? Now the tables were being turned on her.

"I will make it back to you. I promise you."

"You better."

* * *

Elena still couldn't believe he was going to do this, but she knew she had to put a front on for her daughter. Alexandra had no idea what they were planning, and they honestly preferred it that way. The less she knew, (especially with her still learning how to control her new urges, and with the way the anti-magic spell had affected her), the better.

Still, Elena couldn't stop the subtle tears from falling down her cheeks as they walked back into the abandoned apartment where they had been staying in safety. With Bonnie acting as the anchor to the Other Side, she knew he would be able to be brought back once he arrived there, but the idea of something happening that was unforeseen, was what drove her fear.

"Hey," Damon said, as he crouched down by the coffee table where Alexandra was drawing a picture. "What are you making?"

"A picture," she replied, looking up from her drawing to look at Damon.

"I can see that. I like it."

"Thank you."

"Are you thirsty?"

"A little bit," Alexandra admitted.

"Here's some," Damon said, taking out a blood bag from behind his back and pouring the substance into a cup for her. "Just got it from the fridge, actually."

"Cool. Thanks."

"No problem."

Damon watched her drink slowly, clearly trying to delay the inevitable job he would have of saying goodbye to her when she was already going through enough with her transition and the enhanced grief she felt for her parents, and the natural, childlike emotions that had been strengthened because of her vampire status.

In the space of only a few days, she had completely stolen his heart (and Elena's). Having children had been a far off dream he never thought would come to fruition. With the unexpected addition of her, he had gotten to have the family he had always dreamed of having.

"What are you thinking about?" Alexandra asked, seeing the pensive look on her father's face.

"Just thinking about how much I'm going to miss you," Damon replied.

"Where are you going?"

"I have to go do something in town for a little while," Damon said, not mentioning the fact that he was going to be dying because he knew he would be coming back, and the thought of scaring her needlessly wasn't something he wanted to do.

"Why?"

"We're going to stop those Travelers once and for all."

"How?"

"A little kaboom," Damon said, smiling slightly.

"Okay...when are you going to be back?"

"I'll be back very soon. I promise you."

"Okay."

"Come and give me a hug," Damon said, as he stood up.

Alexandra didn't even hesitate, as she stood up and ran into his arms, allowing him to lift her up in his arms and give her a final, giant hug.

"I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too, princess," Damon said.

"See you later, alligator?"

"In awhile, crocodile."


	10. Chapter 10

The kitchen floor and Elena quickly became friends as she nearly paced a crater in the ground with her quick strides, as she frantically checked her phone for any incoming messages from Damon. It was nerve-wracking to know that he was planning on being the one who would sacrifice himself for the greater good, when so much else was at stake than just getting rid of the horrible Travelers.

Their family—their life together—and their daughter who needed a stable family in her life, and not someone who would end up going out in a burst of flames when the explosion occurred. So far, Alexandra had been managed to be kept out of the loop of what they were planning, and Elena was grateful for that.

The less she knew to worry about, the better.

Washing a hand over her face, Elena wished she could have the same naivete that possessed her daughter. To her, Damon was just going out on one of his many errands and would be back before the day was out, probably with some present or another for her, and something more intimately romantic for his girlfriend.

Elena wished it could be that; wished that Damon was just going out for another blood bag run that would take an hour or two at most, and he would be back safely in her arms, and back in their daughter's life again.

Emotion for a vampire was a tricky thing—it could either be a blessing or a curse depending on the circumstances—and right then, Elena was feeling the entire complexity of all the negatives as she envisioned, against her will, the possible repercussions of doing something so brazen and so unlike them, and it was staggering.

Bonnie had left only a few minutes previously to get ready for the spell that Liv would do that would open up the veil to the Other Side, and allow their loved ones to return to them. Lexi and Alaric being the two people that they missed and treasured the most, and of course Damon when he ultimately met his fate in the smoldering wreckage of the Grille.

Sighing softly as she tried to squeeze her eyes shut to ward off the irksome tears she could feel threatening her, she looked out over the edge of the counter to the living room, which was in plain sight of the kitchen, and saw Alexandra and Stefan engaged in a heated game of Monopoly, one of the only games that had been left by the previous owner.

Forcing a smile on her face, she went out in the living room to join them. Hopefully she would able to distract herself from the crippling fear of something bad happening to Damon, and be able to enjoy a game of something fun for once, instead of the precarious game of life and death, good vs evil.

"Who's winning?" Elena asked, as she set a bowl of chips and salsa down for the hungry players.

"I am, most definitely," Stefan replied, as his eyes squinted the way they did in concentration as he moved his piece another notch.

"He is _not_!" Alexandra protested, her oceanic blue eyes widening in disbelief at the lie Stefan spouted out.

"I am, too!"

"Uh-_uh_. Liar, liar pants on fire!"

"Come on, Stefan," Elena said, "lying to a kid? Even for you, that's low."

"I was completely truthful," Stefan insisted, but his slow smile gave him away as he shrugged. "She's beating me by a _few_ points."

"Thank you," Alexandra said, nodding in satisfaction of the fact she had been able to get the truth out of her uncle.

"Yeah, yeah whatever."

"Where's Damon?" Alexandra asked.

Even though she still missed her parents, and wanted them back, she had taken up the habit of sometimes calling them by "mom" or "dad" and whenever she felt comfortable doing that, they welcomed it with open arms, but it was still a learning curve that she wasn't quite at home with yet.

"He'll be back p—pretty soon," Elena said, her voice shaking as her hand, which had been carrying a glass of water, suddenly slipped, and would have fallen and broken on the floor, had Stefan not caught it out of reflex. "Thanks."

"Um," Stefan said, as he looked at the game board and then at the little girl. "Can you take my turn for me while Elena and I go into the bedroom?"

"Why?"

"Just some grown-up talk," Stefan assured her, as he and Elena stood.

"About what?"

"About something that's no big deal," Elena assured her, plastering a smile on her face for her daughter's sake as she reluctantly followed Stefan into the bedroom at the end of the hall, hoping the distance would be enough so that Alexandra wouldn't be able to hear them with her enhanced sense of hearing.

"Are you okay?" Stefan asked, once he had closed the door.

"In how many ways can I say no?" Elena asked theoretically, as she shook her head in incredulity at the sequence of events that had led to this point. "Damon is speeding off to his death...and he may not come back."

Bonnie had a plan to bring everyone back, any number of things could go wrong with that plan, especially with them relying on a witch they barely knew, and who had tried to kill them before, to make sure it all went honky dory.

"Look, Damon knows what he's doing," Stefan said, trying to use the words he thought would bring peace to her, but it did the exact opposite in her mind.

"Then what if something happens that's _beyond_ his control?"

"Bonnie's plan is absolute. Liv agreed to help us, and for leverage, her brother is gone. She knows she'll get him back if she helps us. It's a win-win situation, Elena."

"I know but-"

"Look," Stefan said, "I have known my brother for over a hundred years. Love and trust? It's all he's ever wanted and yearned for, and he finally found that in you. I don't know what he'll have to do, but I know he'll come back to you."

"Stefan-"

"I watched Damon suffer through years of our father berating him because he didn't think he measured up to what I was like, and then with Katherine and finding out that she not only never tried to find him once she escaped, but never loved him, he could have flipped the switch and he didn't, because of you."

"I know-"

"I was jealous and angry of your relationship with him, the bond that you two had, but I can see how good you two are for each other. I want this to work out, Elena, and it will."

"The thought of something happening to him..."

It was too horrible to even imagine. The idea of something going horribly wrong with the spell, and him not being able to come home to them. It was drove the sickening pit in her stomach as she wrapped a subconscious arm around her middle to keep herself intact as much as she possibly could.

"Hey," Stefan said, as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "I know, believe me, I do. He's been the only person I've known longest in this world. Except for Lexi. I know what this feels like, but I'll tell you what."

"What?"

"Go after him," Stefan said, nodding his head slowly in encouragement. "I'll stay here with Alexandra, and Jeremy and Matt are on their way to the cemetery to meet Bonnie. Go and make sure he's okay, and just make sure you let me know what's happening when you can."

"Yeah, but-"

How could she, in good faith, leave her daughter when something could happen to _both_ of them now and not just Damon? It wasn't something she felt altogether comfortable doing, but another larger part of her could feel her body pressing her foreword, as though it was feeling the same desires that she was and wanting her to act on it.

"Go," Stefan said. "You know you'll regret it if you don't."

"What about Alexandra? What will she think if I leave too?"

There was only so much hurt that one little girl could take, and though she had no clue about the true reason Damon had left, Elena knew she was smart enough to figure out that something wasn't quite right with how tense she had been acting since he had left.

"She won't think anything," Stefan said with a shrug. "We still have a Monopoly game to battle each other out with, and you can tell her that you are meeting him somewhere, which is technically true."

Elena nodded, sucking back a deep breath as she prepared herself to walk back out into the living room where Alexandra was supposed to be. Throwing him a grateful smile, she wrenched open the door and found her sneaky daughter leaning against the wall as she pretended to examine her cuticles.

"Alexandra," Elena said, looking over at Stefan in disbelief. "Were you listening this whole time?"

What would happen if their daughter heard her entire conversation with Stefan? They had tried hard to keep the truth from her, but what if she had taken matters into her own hands?

"No, not the whole time," Alexandra insisted. "I just heard something about going after Dam—Dad for some reason."

Elena smiled out of reflex at Alexandra slipping up and calling Damon "dad" it was something he would have loved had he actually been there for it.

"Yeah," Elena said, as she took her daughter's hand to lead her back out to the family room. "We're just going for a date, I guess you could call it."

A deadly date, but a date nonetheless.

"Why?"

"Because it's something we do," Elena said, trading grins with Stefan at how naturally curious the little girl was.

"Is something wrong?"

"Why would you think that?"

Maybe she had heard more than what she had originally let on. It pained Elena to think about that, and she tried not to, as she tried to keep a steady and cool head through it all.

"No reason," Alexandra said with a shrug. "So you're meeting him someplace?"

"Yes."

"Can I go?"

"No, no not this time," Elena said softly, as she sat down next to her daughter, carding her fingers through her silky hair.

"Because you want some alone time?"

"That's right."

"When will you be back?" Alexandra asked.

"Soon, I promise you," Elena said, as she leaned in to give her a kiss on the cheek. "I love you, sweetheart."

"I love you, too."

* * *

Finding Damon wasn't nearly as hard as she initially thought it would be. He would be waiting outside the town limits of Mystic Falls for the text from Liz that signaled she had managed to gather the Travelers inside the Grille like they originally planned.

Watching from a distance for her moment to pop up next to him, she listened as the distinctive _ding _of his phone alerted him to the fact he had an incoming text from someone. Watching his torso bend over in concentration as he typed out a reply, she held her breath as he took a final drag of the alcohol he had been consuming, before slipping into his beloved Camaro.

Taking that as her cue, she was around to the side of the car before she (or Damon) could so much as bat an eye at the movement.

"What the hell are you doing?" he demanded, looking at her as though she had suddenly grown two heads and a tail.

"You said to respect your choice, and I did. Now you can respect _mine_," Elena said, as she buckled herself in for good measure, even though it wouldn't be necessary.

"Whoa. No, no. This isn't how it's supposed to work, Elena," Damon said, clearly horrified that his own words had been used against him. "The second we cross through that border, you're going to feel _everything_! It will take you back to the night you died a human."

Did he think she didn't know that? Before they managed to escape, she had felt all the worst effects of the Travelers spell, and had felt that indescribable feeling of drowning, even though she wasn't anywhere near a large body of water.

"I know what I signed up for, Damon, and I'm all in."

She knew the risks—she had known them from day one when she made the conscious choice to be with him—and she knew the risks now with driving to their deaths, but with the promise of being brought back from the Other Side when Bonnie and Liv started activating the spell.

"What about Alexandra? Where is she?"

"With Stefan. He was the one that actually wanted me to come and see what I could do to help you. I think he was worried about you, but didn't want to actually admit it."

Damon was still looking at her as though she had lost her mind, and Elena knew that she probably had, but there was no way she wanted Damon to die alone in that car without having someone by his side that truly loved him.

"What are you staring at? Drive," she commanded.

It was clear he didn't need telling twice as he put his cherished car in drive, and sped down the long stretch of blacktop that led to their ultimate destination of the Grille. Once there, their spirits would pass through Bonnie and be on the Other Side, then they would have to find her again and cross back through.

It all sounded so systematic when spoken about aloud, but Elena knew more than the average person, and was able to rationalize consequences more thoroughly than most people gave her credit for, and she knew that this had all the makings to be a horrible happening if it wasn't carried out precisely.

"Once we get into town," Damon said, and Elena could tell he was trying to draw breath through the nervousness he was clearly feeling. "I'll make a straight shot to the Grille."

"How much longer?"

She had tracked him several miles to the spot just before they were due to hit Mystic Falls. It wouldn't be long before she would start to feel all the horrible side-effects she had fled from just several hours previously.

"Only a few minutes."

"We have to hurry," Elena said, "we have to die while we're still vampires or-" she was cut off again by the appearance of the dreaded lake water she had ingested when she had drowned.

"No...no," Damon said, as he revved the engine as fast as it would go. "Come on! Come on!" he said, slamming his hand against the steering wheel as the Grille came into their line of view.

Any second now they would crash through the front window, giving them a split second of life before it was taken away from them by the appearance of the explosion.

"Damon, I..."

She loved this man so much—had gone through hell and back to be with him—and now it might be coming down to the last time they would ever be together again. She needed to let him know, even though she couldn't imagine there being a shadow of a doubt in his mind anymore.

"I know," he said, looking over at her promising gaze as she nodded in affirmation of her statement. "I know."

Closing her eyes against the panic of knowing she would soon be dead, but also feeling strangely comforted because of who was next to her, she felt a strange sense of peace wash over her when she felt Damon's warm hand come down on top of hers, securing her to himself, and also letting her know that she wasn't alone, that she was with someone who adored her, and they would die together.

She felt the jarring impact as the car collided with the front windows, and the unmistakable sound of crunching and bending metal, before everything was wiped from her senses when the explosion hit.


	11. Chapter 11

The force of the explosion had been enough to knock Elena unconscious until she was forcibly brought back to reality when her spirit disconnected from her body, which had been charred to an unrecognizable crisp inside the remains of the beloved Camaro. Bringing herself to a seated position on the hard, dirt ground of the forest, she looked around herself, wondering why she had woken up there, before she heard Bonnie's distinctive voice as she cried out in pain, clearly after another spirit had passed through her.

Scrambling to her feet as fast as she could, she started toward her friend's voice, knowing that time was most definitely of the essence when the Other Side was destroying itself by the second, and they needed to pass through her and then find her again on the Other Side to be brought back.

It was a confusing sequence she had to follow, but she knew she had no other choice as her feet carried her toward the sound of her friend's painful cries. It dawned on her that Damon wasn't anywhere to be found, and while that alone filled her with a dreaded sense of panic, she tried not to worry too much, knowing that he could have passed through ahead of her already.

Ignoring the dull ache in her heart at the thought of something going wrong with Damon, she found her friend just as she was straightening up from another spirit that had evidently passed through her. Upon seeing her, Bonnie's face spread out into a shaky smile, clearly relieved that everything was going the way it was supposed to.

"Bonnie," Elena said, coming to a skidding halt in front of her friend.

"Elena," Bonnie said, giving a shaky laugh of relief. "Did it work? Are you-"

"Yeah," Elena said, nodding, still not entirely believing she was dead when she didn't feel any different from her normal self. "Did Damon-"

Her question was answered for her when he stepped out from behind the thick cover of the trees. His hair and clothes slightly askew as he came to a halt next to Elena and their friend.

"Right here."

An unbridled sense of relief instantly flooded through Elena's veins as she locked eyes with her man, knowing that any number of things could have happened that would have prevented him from finding her before it was too late.

Giving her a steady nod, Damon threaded his fingers through hers as they turned back to face Bonnie for final instructions.

"Okay," Bonnie said, addressing them both. "When you guys pass through me, you'll wake up with your bodies on the Other Side. I need you to get back here as fast as you can."

It would be easier said than done, especially considering how fragmented the Other Side currently was, and how that destruction could impact them from having as easy of a time getting back as they would have liked.

Putting on as much of a mental block against the fear as she could, Elena nodded, squaring her jaw rigidly as she looked at Damon, seeing nothing but the same determination that she felt.

"Okay," Damon said, deciding to speak for her when it was clear she was beyond words at the turn of events their lives had taken. She never imagined she and Damon would be so foolish to attempt something so reckless, but she couldn't go back and reverse time now, even if she wished she could.

Closing her eyes, Elena had a split second of feeling, before her friend clamped her hand down on her arm, securing her fate to the Other Side. The last thing she felt before she went, was a breath of a whisper as Damon's lips closed around the side of her head.

Stefan could tell Alexandra was distracted by the thoughts of what could be happening to her adoptive parents, as he tried to get her interested in another game that Caroline had thought to bring over, but it was pointless. The little girl tried playing along with him, but he could tell her heart wasn't as into it like it had been before Elena had left to go find Damon.

He had told her to let him know what was happening, but it wasn't as if there was cell reception on the Other Side. She was incapable of letting him know the progression of their attempts to save them all from the Travelers, and even though he would have loved to have had the backup relief of knowing everything had gone according to plan, he knew he would have to reconcile himself to the fact he wouldn't know anything until when (or even _if_) she and Damon both made it back safely.

Trying not to let his emotions show across his face, he smoothed out the lines in his forehead and tried to make another move on the game board, but lost when Alexandra managed to secure another point. Either she had played this game before, (which she denied), or she was a natural learner, able to pick up things like a whip.

"You're pretty good at this game," Stefan commented, as he paused in his playing to take a sip of the blood cup he had made himself.

"Thanks."

"Are you _sure_ you haven't played this before?" Stefan asked, a teasing smile playing across the edges of his lips as he tried to engage her in some lighthearted discussion, like Damon was known to do, but was unable to do now.

"Positive."

"Because you seem to have picked this up like a snap."

"It's not _that_ hard," Alexandra said, rolling her eyes as though that fact should be obvious to someone like him.

"Chutes and Ladders is _very_ challenging," Stefan insisted. "Look at me, I already got knocked back twice!"

"Because I'm smarter."

"Oh, now you're just being mean."

"Is it working?"

"Is what working?"

"Me taking a shot at your ego," Alexandra said with a giggle, as she looked at him out of the corner of her eye for his reaction.

"Where did you learn that?" Stefan asked, intrigued as to how she would know, at ten, what an ego was, or how to use it in a sentence.

"I went to school once. I learned things."

"How to talk back?" Stefan asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Maybe," she replied evasively.

"You're something else."

"Thanks?" she said uncertainly, as she took her next turn.

Smiling, Stefan shook his head as he countered her movement. It was a wonderful distraction for him, but he wasn't sure the same could be said for the child, who bit down on her bottom lip as she stood up from her crouched position by the coffee table, and went to sit on the sofa.

"Hey," Stefan said quietly. "Are you okay?"

"I'm kind of freaked out," Alexandra admitted, bowing her head as though she felt shame for her feelings, as though it was something she felt obligated to hide from the rest of the world.

"Why?" Stefan asked, as he sat down next to her.

"Earlier, before Dad left, he said something about making something go kaboom. Then I heard you and Mom talking in the bedroom, and I heard one of you say that he might be in danger. Is that true?"

So she _had_ heard more than she let on initially. Biting his tongue in question as he tried to think up the words needed to explain to her what was happening, he scrubbed a hand over his face as he finally clasped his hands in front of him.

"I can promise you that Damon has gotten himself into a lot of hairy situations, and he's always come out fine."

"But is he in trouble _now_?" she prompted.

"No," Stefan lied. "He's just making sure that everything's going smoothly with the operation."

"What operation?"

"The operation to create the explosion at the Grille."

"Why did Mom need to go?" Alexandra asked suspiciously.

"She wanted to make sure that nothing happened."

"Did something happen?"

"No. I would have heard if something bad had happened."

Alexandra still didn't look entirely convinced, but at least she wasn't bombarding him with the questions she had been shooting off only a few seconds earlier, as she huffed out a sigh and got back down on the floor to play the game, but Stefan could definitely tell she was quieter as she focused intently on her game, and what moves she was making to what pieces.

"Are you going to play?"

"Sure," he said, "but do you want to finish later if you're not into it?"

"No, it's fine."

"Okay."

Elena had never been on the Other Side before, had never been unfortunate enough to be placed in that horrific place, but she could tell what Bonnie meant when she said that the place was disintegrating by the second. Flickering lights that reminded her of a bad horror house, flashed through her mind as she stood up from the splayed position she had woken up in, and went in search of something familiar.

She didn't have to wait long before she saw the twisted remains of the Camaro. Gulping back the lump in her throat, she approached the car from the passenger side as she examined the burned remain of her hand, which was the only piece of her body that stuck out to her because of her melted daylight ring.

Drawing in a deep breath, she tried to think clearly through the haze that was her brain, but couldn't. Damon wasn't there, that was the one thought that struck her as clear as day, and even though she hadn't expected for everything to go off without a hitch, his presence would have been something she would have leaned on to get her through until they could find Bonnie again.

"Did you seriously wear your seatbelt?"

"Alaric," Elena said, not able to keep the smile off her face as she faced her biological step-father, and an irreplaceable member of her family that had been lost to her when he had been turned into an Original vampire, complete with a crazed need to exterminate all of his kind from the face of the earth. "What are you-"

What was he doing there?

How had he managed to find her so quickly?

Did he hear about the destruction of the Other Side? How so many spirits were being blasted away to oblivion because of some supernatural force they couldn't understand?

"Come on," Ric said, inclining his head. "You gotta go."

No. She couldn't leave without Damon. Even though he was guaranteeing her a straight shot back to Bonnie, there was no way she could leave without him. The whole purpose of her dying with him, so that she could be with him if the worst possible thing happened.

"Okay, but what about Damon? I need to find him."

"No," Ric said, using that authoritative inflection in his tone that he had used on previous, dire situations when he was trying to get through to her. "You need to go home to your brother, and your daughter. I'll find Damon."

So obviously he knew all about Alexandra from being able to observe occasionally from the window of the Other Side.

"I can't-"

"Come _on_, Elena, get out of here."

"Okay."

She could have fought him more, and she knew it, but she knew that she could spent a few minutes looking for Damon before admitting defeat and allowing Ric to finish her job. The Other Side was a choppy place that was full of corners and rooms that made no literal sense to her eye, but that wasn't what she was concerned about as the scenery around her, changed to a more colorized version of the cemetery where she was due to meet Bonnie.

Lexi was standing there, along with Bonnie, no doubt waiting for her chance to pass back through and be a part of their lives again. A life that had been destroyed when Damon had his switch flipped off, and had killed her out of cold blood.

"I can't find Damon!" she cried, panic gripping her heart in a vice-like grip as she came to a stop in front of Bonnie.

"Elena, go," Lexi said, looking over at her. "Bonnie and Ric and I are still here. Just go!"

"No," Elena said, shaking her head. "I'm not leaving without him!"

"This place is falling apart!" Bonnie said, trying to shake some common sense into her friend.

"No!"

Reacting quickly, without giving her time to formulate a defense, Bonnie reached out and grabbed her, binding Elena to her power and giving her a forced ride back to earth, without the man she loved by her side.

Disbelief momentarily filled her system, before pure anger surged through her like a lioness as she reared around to face Bonnie, not even believing she had taken her choice away from her.

"No, Bonnie, why would do that? I can't leave without him!"

"We'll find him," Bonnie said, giving her a steady look. "I can do this."

Elena nodded, trying to take some comfort from that, though she knew it would be fruitless until he was standing in front of her again. Ignoring Caroline, who had remained silent, not sure of what to do to comfort her friend, they watched as a coughing fit came over Bonnie, before she disappeared from sight.

"Elena, are you okay?" Caroline asked, broaching the delicate topic.

"No. No I'm not."

"Why were you on the Other Side?"

"I went with Damon."

"Why would you do something like that?" Caroline demanded, wringing her hands in pure frustration at her friend's stubbornness.

"Because I love him, Caroline," Elena said, rounding on her. "And I know you're incapable of seeing that for yourself, but-"

She didn't get a chance to finish her sentence, because Tyler had just appeared through Bonnie. Caroline was overjoyed, giving an excited shriek when she locked eyes with him, but for Elena, it only meant more bad news, and the fact that Damon still hadn't been located.

"Where's Damon?" Elena demanded, not letting herself feel excited that Tyler had been brought back from when the Travelers had taken over his body. "Did you see him?"

"No."

Elena shook her head, bringing her hand up to her mouth to halt the hysterical cries she could feel bubbling up beneath the surface. It couldn't be real that he was nowhere to be found, it couldn't be real that the Other Side was falling apart, and he was still stuck.

"This isn't happening," she cried, denying the reality that was right in front of her. It wasn't real he wasn't back yet, it wasn't real no one had been able to find him, and he hadn't managed to find Bonnie on his own.

"It's alright," Bonnie said. "I can do this, Elena, trust me."

Elena tried to take comfort from her words, but knew that would be useless until Damon was back and standing right in front of her. Watching as Bonnie disappeared again, she shook her head, ignoring the concerned look Caroline threw her as she walked around the length of the cemetery, trying to find something to occupy her mind with.

"Elena-"

"What?" Elena snapped, looking over at Caroline.

"Damon will be fine. He knows what he's doing."

"You don't have to bother offering me support right now, Caroline," Elena said weakly. "I know how you feel about him, so does he."

"Well, yeah, because he-"

"Save it," Elena said. "Really."

"Okay, I'm sorry."

"Hey, guys," Tyler said, interrupting the tense moment between the two friends.

"What?" Elena said, her tone softening when she looked over at him.

"I think your witch stopped her spell."

"What do you mean?" Elena demanded, feeling her heart plummet into her stomach.

"She was in that building, right?" he prompted, directing his attention to the building Liv had been performing the spell to keep the veil open on the Other Side.

"Yes..."

"She's not—I don't hear her anymore."

Deciding to pay attention and listen for what he was implying, Elena could definitely hear complete and utter silence in the mausoleum from which Liv had set up to do the spell. Her heart sinking like a boulder into the pit of her stomach, she ignored everyone else and ran into the room.

It was empty—the remains of the candles that had been lit for the spell, were not melting, completely devoid of the flames that had brought the spell to life.

"Liv!"


	12. Chapter 12

Where was Liv? Where was the witch that had agreed to help them in exchange for getting her dead brother back from the Other Side? It didn't make immediate sense to Elena's frazzled, terrified mind as she came to a skidding halt in front of the lifeless, melting candles on the ground that had kept the spell alive during the time that Liv had been keeping the veil to the Other Side open, enabling Bonnie to ferry spirits back to the land of the living.

Pushing her hair out of her face, she looked around in confusion, as though she would see the witch hovering in a corner, waiting to be found, but she was nowhere in sight. Even though Elena knew the implications of what this meant, it didn't instantly click in her mind as denial overtook anything else as she turned at the faint sounds of her friend's approach.

Bonnie had been slower to come in, but now upon seeing her, Elena knew that all they had to do was either find Liv or find someone that could take her place in a pinch like this, even though the logistics of that would be impossible, it didn't matter to her because this was Damon's life they were talking about, not some random person she didn't care two hoots about.

"Bonnie," she said, facing her friend as she tried to keep a straight face and not break down like she was sorely tempted to do in that very moment. "We have to start the spell again-" she began, her voice rising with each syllable she uttered. "We have to find them again."

"We can't. That was our one shot," Bonnie said helplessly.

Her words didn't make sense in Elena's mind—she knew they only had a limited amount of time to make it perfect, but that didn't account for the fact that there had to be a loophole somewhere because _Damon_ was still there, and the idea of there being nothing they could do, was absolutely out of the question.

Even as the words came out of her mouth, Elena was already shaking her head, knowing there had to be a way around this because there was _always_ a way around it. The powers that be had never let them down before, and there was no reason why it should be any different now.

"Yeah, but—but _Damon's_ still on the Other Side. We have to-"

"Elena!"

The elevated pitch of her friend's voice was enough to stop her dialogue short as she shut up and looked at her, wondering if, by some miracle, there _was_ another way out of this, even though in that instant, Bonnie was looking like she'd rather be _anywhere_ but there, talking to her.

"What?"

It was then that Elena saw how truly uncomfortable her best friend looked, as she reached out a soothing hand to her arm, but Elena shook it off, knowing that she wasn't telling her something, and that was the 'something' that was keeping Damon from coming back to her and to Alexandra.

"He—he," Bonnie said, struggling to get the right words out, before giving up with a defeated sigh. "It's too late," she finally said, her voice cracked with the upset she felt.

A part of Elena heard her impossible words and connected them with reality, but another larger part of her was in complete denial and devastation all at the same time, as ferocious sobs ripped their way out through her mouth as she fell back against the stone wall behind her, completely and utterly ripped to her core as her entire body shook with the force of her heartbreak.

"No, no, no," Elena sobbed, not even bothering to hide the fact of how devastated she was. She wanted him badly, she wanted him to hold her and let her know that it was all a big misunderstanding and he would be fine like he always was, but she knew that nothing could taper off what had happened.

He was gone.

In all the times he had been put through life and death situations, this was the one that he had been powerless to escape from. It shocked her to her core as she struggled to wrap her mind around the fact that she would have to return to that apartment and inform everyone, including Stefan and her daughter, that Damon was gone.

Stefan who had just started establishing a somewhat normal relationship with him again, even with the knowledge that Damon had successfully won over his ex-girlfriend, and then Alexandra who had formed such a deep bond with her adoptive father, and would now have to bear the loss of someone _else_ in her life.

"He's here," Bonnie whispered, stepping foreword again.

Even though it would be impossible to see him with the delicate balance that existed between that world and the real world, she still looked when Bonnie spoke those words, as though another power would grant her the ability to see him one last time.

Watching as her friend slowly turned and walked out of the building, she tried to formulate the right words to speak with him, even if it would be an entirely one-sided conversation, but she knew she needed that for herself, and for him, even though the idea of having a conversation with the intent of saying "goodbye" was completely foreign and unacceptable to her.

"You lied to me."

It was completely irrational, but she felt just the slightest bit betrayed that he had spoken to her and had made the express promise he would come back to her, and now he was in a position where he literally couldn't.

Even though she couldn't see him, she didn't miss the slight shift her hair made as it moved out of place. There wasn't a doubt in her mind that doubted it was Damon who had moved her hair, his way of expressing affection and comfort to her.

Thinking of it like that and all the happy times they spent together where it wasn't stressful or life-shattering, made her heart splinter all over again. If there was anyone who deserved death less, it was Damon, and the remarkable shift he had made from a killer without reserve, to a person who was capable of love and devotion, and being a father and boyfriend/future husband.

"Please don't leave us," she sobbed.

She wasn't the kind of person who sobbed and begged for the people she loved. When she knew that the door was closed and there was no conceivable way to bring them back, she tried her hardest to move on from the grief and shock that always followed such a tragic event, but this was different in all respects possible.

This wasn't a normal boyfriend—or even Stefan. This was someone who had been there for her through better and worse, the man who she hated with a burning passion at first, but had gradually and slowly fallen in love with, and allowed him to sew up the wounds Stefan left behind.

Together they had succeeded through trial and error, when every possible circumstance designed to tear them apart, failed miserably. Together, they had started a shaky life together that had beautifully culminated in finding their daughter, Alexandra, the absolute love of both of their lives.

Now contemplating an endless, limitless future without him, was something that she couldn't even fathom, let along entertain seriously. It was something she never thought she would have to face with how tough he always was, and how often he was able to escape within an inch of his life.

Even though her heart was breaking each second that Damon didn't appear to her and let her know that he was fine, she felt an odd sense of peace wash over her as she felt his presence, even though she was incapable of seeing it.

When a foreign gust of wind brushed past her cheek, she knew it was Damon's hand moving gently across her cheek like he did in the stillest of nights when it was just the two of them, and he would stroke her so lovingly, so gently as he would wait for her to fall asleep.

Trying to keep her head up, even though she could feel her spine bending foreword with the pressure of her desperate cries, she could barely think straight, let alone string together words to form a sentence, but she felt an irrational need to plead her case one last time before giving up.

"Please..." she choked. "Please come back to me."

Nothing except for the utter stillness that permeated the musty air inside the place. Bowing her head down to her knees, which she had drawn up to her chest, she tried to get a handle on herself, but couldn't.

There were no words to accurately describe the pain and fear that came with losing the love of your life so suddenly and unexpectedly. For her, it was losing that eternal partner in life that had gotten her through hell and back, and now was gone.

For the first time ever, he had broken a promise to her. It hadn't been by his doing, it hadn't been his fault, but this was the first time, she realized, where she had sobbed for him, and he hadn't come running that instant.

Struggling to her feet, she tried to face the strength that would come with leaving, but couldn't. She couldn't imagine summoning up enough courage to walk out and go back to the apartment to inform Stefan and Alexandra that Damon was gone, that he had been killed because of Liv and her brother.

Turning against the wall, trying to dry her tears the best she could, she couldn't believe he was gone, still couldn't believe the words Bonnie had spoken to her, as though there was no hope for him coming back to her.

That was still something she was struggling to understand.

When a hand reached out and touched her shoulder, she jumped, foolishly expecting it to be Damon who had come back for her. No. Instead, it was Alaric, and that would have to do for the moment, as she spun around to meet him.

Words simply failed her as she shook her head as another sob wrenched its way up through her throat.

"He's gone!"

There were no words that could possibly account for the pain that they both were going through in that moment, as Ric simply opened his arms to the girl that he had all but adopted in his heart, along with Jeremy, as his own family that had been taken from him when Isobel had turned against him.

Elena could feel Ric's own tears mix in with hers as they simply held each other, both in their own stage of grief over the loss of the man they both loved in different ways. Damon was that unlikely friend for Ric, who had become his exclusive drinking buddy, and for Elena, she had lost her soul mate.

The only thing that could have possibly distracted her from that moment, was the sound of her brother's gut-wrenching screams as it reached both of their sensitive hearing.

"Bonnie! Bonnie! Bonnie!"

"What's going on?" Ric whispered, pulling away from her so they could both go investigate what was happening that would elicit such a heart-wrenching response from the youngest Gilbert.

"I don't-"

"Bonnie!"

"Come on," he said, pulling her by the arm as they left the sanctuary of the building to go outside and see what the problem was, what other earth-shattering occurrence had happened upon their lives this time.

It was almost terrifying to imagine as she came to a stop next to Caroline and Tyler. Beyond that, near the visible gravestones, she could see Bonnie standing, staring at them all as though she was memorizing their faces as though it was the last time she would be blessed enough to see it.

Tilting her head to the side in confusion, she watched as the same light that had enshrouded her friend when she made the fateful trips back and forth to the Other Side, enveloped her again, though this time Elena knew that it would be permanent, that because she was the anchor, she would be gone alongside that wretched place.

"What happened?" Caroline demanded, as though she couldn't get understand why her friend had suddenly vanished.

"The Other Side," Jeremy said, running his fingers through his hair, tears glimmering in his eyes, though the owner refused to let them fall quite yet. "She lied to me, said she would be okay, but she went with it."

"Wait," Caroline said, her fast brain connecting the dots. "So Bonnie's gone with it-"

"Yes," Jeremy said miserably.

"And Damon, too," Ric said, squeezing Elena's shoulder. "They both didn't make it out."

"What do I tell Stefan?" Elena said, clamping her hand over her mouth to cover more of her cries. "And Alexandra?"

"We'll find a way," Ric assured her. "Come on. Let's go home."

Where was home? To her, home consisted of any place that included Damon and their daughter. Without there being a Damon inside it, there was no such place for her. Just a place where she slept and ate, but with none of the happy memories she had come to associate with that word.

"Okay," Elena found herself agreeing shakily.

At least there she had her daughter.

* * *

_Authors note: I am not like the show and therefore I will not make you wait four months to see what happens from here on out. _


	13. Chapter 13

It was almost impossible for Elena to place one foot in front of the other, as their group slowly disbanded to head off to their one source of refuge that had sheltered them since the Travelers had activated their anti-magic spell around Mystic Falls: the apartment.

It seemed like a lifetime ago that they had been forced to run from the only home each of them had ever known. It seemed impossible that so much could have gone wrong in such a short amount of time, and it seemed impossible that losses had been suffered on both sides, most especially Damon and Bonnie, who had been forced to disappear along with the Other Side, when it finally demolished itself.

Sniffling back as many of the tears as she could, Elena forced herself to remain upright as they walked out of the stifling atmosphere of the cemetery and back to the quieter setting of the apartment. The idea of facing her daughter and Stefan, and informing them that Damon had failed to return, was the last thing she wanted to be presented with, but she knew that as hard as it would be for her, it wouldn't compare to the pain that the two of them would go through with hearing that someone they both adored, was gone.

Even though she was still very much in the early stages of grief and denial, she felt angry. She felt angry at the world for robbing her of one more person, and she felt angry that the bad hits continually kept hitting at her, and not someone who was perhaps more deserving of them.

The last fate Damon deserved was death, and yet the witches that had been practicing the spell, had apparently decided their lives were more important than his. It didn't make sense in her chaotic, confused mind, and it only strengthened her resolve to find Liv and Luke and demand an answer to why they stopped the spell at the last minute, when they knew they had to get everyone out before they stopped it.

Breaking away from her thoughts when she accidentally stumbled over a low-hanging branch, she looked around herself and realized they had already reached the near-empty parking lot of the cemetery. Caroline's flashy car loomed before them, reminding Elena of the car that had driven her to her death (and Damon's) only hours earlier.

Swallowing back the football-sized lump in the back of her throat, she steeled herself with a warrior like determination and grasped the handle of the car, careful not to exert too much damaging pressure, and opened it.

Sliding into the seat was a bit like sealing her fate (and Damon's). It was like she was admitting to herself that he was gone, that she was forcing herself to leave the cemetery without him. Brushing her fingers lightly across her face to capture the tears before they fell, she looked over when Caroline hopped in the driver's seat, with Matt and Jeremy and Alaric taking the backseat positions.

It must have been difficult for them to squeeze in together like that, but she couldn't find it in herself to care when her entire world had been flipped upside down again. Through the torrential downpour of grief and devastation that she felt, she also felt an almost soothing numbness as she settled herself into the seat.

"We can find Liv," Jeremy was saying, speaking quietly as though he was afraid of disrupting the stillness that had settled over the car as Caroline drove them back to the apartment. "Maybe she can do something."

"Like what?" Matt asked. "The Other Side is _gone_-"

"But there's always a way," Jeremy reminded him. "There may be hell to pay later, but there's always a solution. Magic always provides a loophole."

"I can't imagine there _not_ being something that could be done," Ric said, "we have to find something."

His tone left absolutely no doubt that he would move heaven and earth if it meant getting back those they had lost unfairly. If there was ever a bright spot in a positively horrible situation, it was that Elena and Jeremy had Ric back in their lives.

"I know," Elena said, somehow forcing the words out even though she wasn't consciously aware of her mouth moving. "Are you still a-"

"An Original supercharged vampire with anger issues?" Ric prompted, finishing the sentence for her. "I don't know. The vampire part is still there, but I don't feel the same hatred, only for myself."

"Why would you feel hatred for yourself?" Elena asked, twisting around in her seat to look at him. Even though he had spent his life going after the creatures that had killed his wife, he had learned to push aside his hatred, and had become friends with most of them, including Damon.

"Because of what I let Esther do to me."

"That wasn't your fault."

"I know that, but anger and hatred can sometimes be irrational. You know that for yourself, don't you?"

"I do."

Even if her anger had been completely justified in her mind, sometimes she still felt the tiniest bit foolish for some of her outbursts, as though she was miffed she let her righteousness get in the way when it wasn't warranted.

"So you're still a vampire," Jeremy said, "we can teach you, Ric."

"How to control myself? I never thought I'd be the one having to take lessons from someone."

"Well, if I were you," Caroline said, as she put on her blinker to turn a corner. "I would take it if I could get it. It's not all fun and games and speed. It's also pretty complicated, especially if you have certain...traits that can become magnified."

"I know _all_ about that."

"Well, good."

"Listen, Caroline," Ric said, after a seconds worth of silence. "There's something that you should know. You too, Elena."

"What?" Elena asked, taking a moment to collect her fractured emotions with a deep sigh.

"When I found Damon back there, your mom, Caroline, was trapped under a pillar. She was unconscious, she couldn't move it herself. Damon was trying to get her free when I found them. We were delayed in getting to Bonnie because of that."

Elena shook her head, feeling more of the irksome tears run down her face like a river. It wasn't a surprise to her at all that Damon would stop to help someone in need. He had been doing that for years, without anyone noticing.

"Is she okay?" Elena asked.

"Yeah, I think so."

"At least he died doing something for one of his friends," Elena said, trying to find the silver lining in all of it, even though it was a chore all on its own.

"I'm sorry, Elena," Caroline said, looking over at her with genuine concern showing in her kind eyes. "I really am."

"It's fine, Caroline."

"If we find Liv and Luke, maybe we can convince them to help us get them back," Matt theorized.

"Yeah, but we don't know where they are," Jeremy pointed out, stating the obvious fact that Elena was trying not to think about. "And even if we were able to find them, the witches only had a connection to that part of the world."

"But there has to be a loophole _somewhere_," Caroline said, "we brought Jeremy and Bonnie back several times, and we were always able to get around it."

It was true; they had been faced with dire circumstances before, and had somehow always found a way around it. With Jeremy, Bonnie had brought him back after securing her fate to the Other Side, and making sure the veil was kept open long enough to do her spell.

With Bonnie, she had been able to remain on earth as the anchor.

"If there's a way, we'll find it," Ric assured them all. "So tell me about your daughter, Elena."

"She's amazing," Elena said, shaking her head in awe of the wonder that Alexandra had bestowed upon her life.

"You know, I'm slightly pissed that you're a teen mom, but I think I can get over it," Ric commented.

"Yeah, I know," Elena said with a slightly hysterical laugh. "She just sort of snuck up on us, I guess."

"Is she anything like you?" Ric asked.

"No. She's—she's Damon's girl," Elena said, not able to stop the tears that flowed down her face at the thought of their daughter, and the relationship she shared with Damon. It had been like that since she had first set eyes on him, and having to tell her that he was gone, it wasn't anything she could even imagine.

"I'm sorry, Elena."

"It's—it's not your fault."

"We'll find Liv and Luke, Elena," Matt said, "and they can explain what happened that caused all this to happen."

"Yeah, and maybe we can convince them to help us get them back," Jeremy said, clearly deciding to hold onto that hope from the firm way in which he spoke the words.

"I hope so," Elena said, as Caroline turned into the exclusive parking lot of the apartment building. Their floor had all but been abandoned by the previous owners after their deaths, and the other residents had been compelled not to let anyone know they were staying there.

When the car finally stopped at a spot near the front entrance, Elena automatically tensed as she anticipated walking through the door, up the stairs and down to the hall to the door that would grant her access to their place, and one step closer to telling Stefan and Alexandra that Damon was gone.

"Elena," Caroline said, "you ready?"

No, she wasn't ready, but she didn't have any other options. It wasn't like she could drop off the face of the earth, even if she was sorely tempted to.

Resigning herself to fate, she slowly unbuckled her seatbelt and stepped out into the seasonably warm night air. The cool air nipped at her exposed skin, but she hardly paid attention as she and her group walked through the door and up the long flight of steps to the second floor.

Dimly she could hear Jeremy say something to her, but she couldn't muster up the verbal effort to respond to him as they finally reached the correct door at the end of the long hallway. Giving a big sigh, dreading the conversation she would be forced to have with Stefan and her daughter, she wrenched open the door and stepped inside into the warm and inviting apartment building.

Stefan was sitting alone on the couch, cleaning up the remains of some game he and Alexandra had obviously been playing. In another time and place, it would have warmed Elena's heart that Stefan was taking his role as uncle seriously, and was taking the time to bond with his adoptive niece.

"Hey," Stefan said, looking up when they entered, and pulling himself up from the couch. "How did it go? Is everything okay?"

"Um...we...we got rid of the Travelers," Elena replied.

At a much greater cost than she had originally envisioned, but they had managed to get rid of them. Looking into his kind eyes, she couldn't believe she was about to tell him his brother was gone, that the witch they had trusted, had ended up letting them down, whether by her own choice, or out of force.

"Okay," Stefan said, nodding, as though he was waiting for her to divulge more. "And then what else happened? You obviously got back through alright, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, I did," Elena said, taking a deep breath.

"Ric," Stefan said, looking over Elena's shoulder at her stepfather who had just stepped through the door. "I can't believe this."

"I can't, either, trust me."

"He made it back," Elena said, stating the obvious. "Where's Alexandra?"

It had just dawned on her that her daughter was nowhere to be seen. In the bathroom down the hall, she could see the light on underneath the rim of the door.

"Taking a bath."

"Oh, okay."

"What happened?" Stefan asked.

"The Other Side destroyed itself," Ric said. "I got out right in the nick of time."

"What about Damon?" Stefan asked, "where is _he_ at?"

Elena shook her head, her eyes filling with tears again. "Stefan-"

Realization dawned on Stefan's face, before he shook his head, denying what Elena was so obviously implying to him because it was impossible. There was no way his brother was gone, and there was no way Elena was about to tell him that.

"No..."

"But—but it's going to be okay," Elena said, rushing to reassure him, because there wasn't a single part of her that doubted it really _would_ be okay eventually. "Because we're going to find someone who can help us."

Who that "someone" would be, she had no idea, but there had to be someone on the face of that earth who would hold the answers to getting both he _and_ Bonnie back to them.

"What happened?" Stefan asked, his voice uncharacteristically tight as his soft eyes filled with tears.

"Caroline's mom was hurt," Ric explained. "Damon was already helping her when I found him."

"And then Bonnie," Jeremy said, "she was the anchor. Her life was bound to the Other Side, and when that was eliminated, she went with it."

"Maybe-" Stefan began, but was interrupted by the presence of tiny little footfalls that announced the arrival of Alexandra.

If there was one person who's company soothed Elena, it was now Alexandra as she crossed over to the other side of the room where her little girl stood.

"Hi, baby girl," Elena said softly.

"Hi," Alexandra smiled, clearly not having heard the conversation between the adults. "When did you get back?"

"Just now," Elena said, struggling to keep her voice under control so she wouldn't freak her daughter out.

"Where's...where's Dad?" she asked, looking around the room for Damon, and failing to notice him.

Elena sighed, looking back at Stefan, who's tears he was trying to control, but was almost failing at the impossible task, as she looked back into her daughter's beautiful face. "You and I, sweetie, let's go into the bedroom and talk, okay?"

She didn't want to have this conversation with all of them present. They would have to wait until after she had been afforded some time to explain the recent course of events to her first.

"Okay. Why?"

"Because I want to spend some time with you," Elena said, as her fingers worked intricately to untangle a knot from Alexandra's hair.

"Okay!" Alexandra said, clearly thrilled that she was getting to spend some much needed one-on-one time with her new mother, even though it confused her that she hadn't seen Damon yet. "And then is Dad going to join us?"

"We'll see," Elena replied noncommittally. "Let's go."

* * *

The bedroom guaranteed them some privacy as Alexandra hopped on the bed, snuggling under the covers as Elena laid down next to her, stroking her arm gently. This little girl had been put through so much during the last week that the idea of bringing more hell down on her shoulders, was inconceivable to her.

"Did you have a good day?" Elena asked.

"Yeah. Where's Dad?"

Elena paused, making sure her emotions were at least somewhat under control before she continued, hoping she would be able to find the right words to explain what had happened to him.

"You know how Dad said he was going to cause an explosion at the Grille?" Elena began.

"Yeah. He said he was going to make the Travelers go kaboom."

"That's right," Elena said, sniffling a little bit as she wound her arm around her daughter. "What we didn't tell you, what we didn't want to scare you with, is that Dad was going to be the one who triggered the explosion."

"What does that mean?"

"He had to trigger it. He drove his car into the Grille, and I was with him."

"But how could you do that without-"

"Dying?" Elena supplied. "That's the thing. We _did_ die, but Bonnie had a plan to bring everyone back from the Other Side, the side where all the supernatural beings go."

"Okay," Alexandra said slowly, as though she was trying to keep up with what Elena was saying to her. "So where's Dad if you came back? Where is he?"

Elena turned her head to the side so she wouldn't see the tears fall down her cheeks. It still didn't seem real to her that he was gone, that this wasn't some horrible misunderstanding that would be smoothed over with the appearance of another spell or something.

"Baby," Elena said, as she finally managed to dry the tears for the moment. "The spell was only designed to last for a certain amount of time, and the energy that it takes to perform it, is also something that's difficult to master."

"So..."

"The witch, Liv, that was helping us, she was doing it but something happened. The spell stopped at the last minute. Damon was...he was still caught on the Other Side, Alexandra," she whispered.

"But that means-"

Elena nodded, opening her arms as Alexandra laid her head on her chest, her tears already falling down her cheeks and staining Elena's clothes, but she could have care less.

"Honey, it's going to be okay," Elena said, as she ran her hand over her daughter's back. "We're going to find a way to bring him back. Somehow we will."

"Why does everyone have to die like this," Alexandra sobbed. "W—why do they have to leave me?"

"It's not because of you. It's the world we live in that does this, not us or you."

"H—how can we get him back?" Alexandra asked, hiccuping back a sob.

"I have no idea yet. It's not like we have the Other Side to work with now, but we'll figure out a way. We always do."

* * *

_Authors note: Next chapter will hopefully delve more into where Damon and Bonnie are. Or at least get an idea._


	14. Chapter 14

Grief and anger were two of the more dominant emotions that consistently ruled vampire's emotions the hardest and the longest when they suffered through a significant loss. It was different for them than it was for regular humans, who had the mental capacity to grieve the loss appropriately and then move on to the next stage of their lives. When a vampire suffered through the loss of a loved one, the mental effects were as different as it was possible to be.

For vampires who were constantly stuck in a suspended stage of limbo with their bodies never aging or moving foreword, the passage of time where grief lessened and other steps were to be expected, could last centuries without there being any meaningful change.

Being a vampire _could_ be—and _was_—the greatest change for some, but for the others who loved blindly and recklessly, when they were faced with losing that special person and coming to grips with the reality of being stuck on earth without that person, the grief could take all forms and could wreak havoc, especially on the ones who were naturally tuned in to their feelings and those of the people around them.

For Elena, the grief hadn't lessened in the several hours since Bonnie informed her of Damon's fate. It was a constant state of suspended shock and disbelief that someone as naturally cocky and confident as Damon Salvatore, would meet his end like this, and not at the hands of some hunter driving a stake through his heart, like she would have naturally assumed would have been his end.

Being with the people she loved, did little to comfort her except for one person: Alexandra had been the little girl she and Damon miraculously found and had started raising her as a family with the three of them, without the crucial support of her daughter's presence, she wasn't sure what she would have done as she tried to contemplate an existence, however long it might be, without Damon.

Apart from the obvious shock and grief she was experiencing, she felt an overwhelming sadness and longing for the man she had once dubbed a "monster." She missed the little things as much as the big things, she missed the unique smell of his leather jacket, especially after it had just come in after a rain shower.

She missed the gentle tone of his voice when they would lay in bed together, and he would say her name like it was a prayer. The way his hands moved so gently across her body, as though she were the finest piece of china that he was afraid to break, and the way that her head fit so perfectly against the curvature of his neck, and the way his hand would glide against her back as he sang softly under his breath.

Damon was never one for overt public displays of affection like Stefan used to be with her, but it was the smaller acts of love and kindness he displayed when it was the two of them, that made the greatest impact on her, and that was what she missed the most about him.

She had fought her feelings for him for nearly four years, before giving in to them when it became clear to her (_and_ to Stefan) that their connection was too strong to overlook.

Besides the love they felt for each other, they were also team players, both fighting for the same cause. He was her eternal partner in every sense of the word, and was an excellent help when trying to wrangle Alexandra, or figure out a life or death plan that would terrify her, but end up saving them all in the end.

Not able to control the soft sob that worked its way up through her throat, she put her hand up against her mouth as she tried to muffle the sounds so that she wouldn't scare her daughter more. Alexandra had spent most of the evening crying, before eventually falling asleep in a grief—induced exhaustion.

If there was ever a silver living in any of the trauma they were going through, it was that she had Alexandra who was an exact replica of her adoptive father in both her blue eyes, and her (sometimes) snarky attitude.

Stefan and the others had each retired to their separate bedrooms for the night, with a plan of action meeting set up for the following morning. They knew they couldn't stay in the apartment forever, not when the landlord (or whoever owned the place) would come to secure it.

Jeremy and Matt had left a few hours earlier for Tyler's house, and Caroline and Stefan had decided to take up the two other bedrooms that resided in the spacious apartment.

Elena was grateful she wasn't alone, grateful that she had Stefan and Caroline there to make sure that she didn't lose herself completely in the grief like her mind was trying to urge her to do.

Stefan had proposed they go back to the lake house, which would be discussed in further detail later the next morning.

Going back to the lake house without Damon, would be one of the hardest things in the world to her, not just because it was the last place they had really been free from the routine stress and chaos of Mystic Falls, but because it was the place she had driven to after she professed her love to him over the phone.

Turning over on her side, she saw Alexandra silently studying her, obviously having been awake for a few minutes without Elena noticing because of the speed her brain was going.

"Hey," Elena said, her voice cracked from both the combined tiredness she was feeling, and the grief that was like a sledgehammer in its ferocity. "I thought you were asleep, silly."

It had been a rough night for Alexandra. Out of the two of them, she had formed the deepest bond with Damon in the short time she had really known the them, and although she shared a relationship with Elena, it was Damon she bonded with, and now knowing that he was gone, it was a shock to her, and Elena fully understood.

"I was," the little girl replied, looking up at her adoptive mother as she shifted her body weight so that she was leaned up against the headboard. "I couldn't sleep."

"Too much on your mind?"

Alexandra nodded. "My brain feels like it's hurting."

"That's called the weight of a burdened conscience," Elena said, recalling her mother's words to her from when she was approximately that age.

"Really?"

Elena nodded, adjusting the feel of her pillow so that she was more comfortable. "When I couldn't sleep, my mother would also make me some warm milk and put some honey in it."

"Was it good?"

"Kind of," Elena said, making a face which made the little girl laugh. "Sometimes it gave my tummy the jitters."

"Like it was dancing?"

"Sort of."

"What were you thinking about before I woke up?" Alexandra asked innocently as she looked at her mother's sleep—deprived face. "I saw you with your eyes open, and my old Mom used to tell me it meant people were thinking in the dark."

"I was," Elena said, forcing a smile on her face, even though it felt strange, wrong on her face after the hell she had gone through the past few hours. "I was thinking."

"About what?" Alexandra asked teasingly.

"About-" Elena hesitated, wondering if bringing up Damon's name would cause more harm than good, especially when the shock of his passing, was still so raw for her. "The first time I told Dad I loved him."

Alexandra's eyes widened to the size of saucer plates as she looked at her mother. "Really? What was it like?" her voice held all the wonder of a child who had no idea of the concept of love, but wanted to know more.

"It was...it was unique," Elena finally decided. "It was over the phone."

"Seriously?" Alexandra said, leaning foreword in anticipation. "Why?" she asked, wrinkling her nose.

"It just worked out that way. I told him I loved him," Elena mused, her eyes involuntarily shining over with tears, before she managed to get a grip on them. "That it was the most real thing I had ever felt in my entire life."

And it had been. She had been unsure about a lot of things leading up to that moment, but she knew that, even though she was still sired to Damon at that point, the love she felt for him was one hundred percent real, and that was the firm belief she still harbored.

"What did he say?"

"He told me to come to him."

"And so did you?"

"I did."

Alexandra nodded, stifling a yawn as she scooted down to lay next to her Mom. "When can we get him back?"

The hopeful promise of being able to be reunited with her father figure, was what drove her expectations as she looked at Elena.

"Hopefully soon, baby," Elena promised, brushing her child's bangs out of her eyes. "There's still a lot to be considered."

They had lost their crucial connection to the Other Side when it destroyed itself along with Damon and Bonnie, and without that foothold, the power the witches could harness that would be able to reach them, was drastically reduced.

"Like what?"

"We have to find someone who would be willing to help us, first of all."

Obviously their first choices would be Liv and Luke, but since they didn't know the real story as to why they stopped the spell that could have saved Damon's life, Elena was hesitant to go near them and put her faith in them when that had turned out so badly.

"Like who?"

"I...I don't know," Elena admitted, "but we'll figure it out somehow, okay?"

"Okay."

* * *

The destruction of the Other Side wasn't a slow happening like so many other things in life had been for Damon: adjusting to life as a vampire, being a slave to the Augustine monsters, and winning the love and affection of Elena Gilbert.

The Other Side's disintegration had been a fast occurrence that had been bolstered by the fact that it had been a work in progress for several months. Now the time had come due that Damon and Bonnie would have to accept whatever fate was dealt to them, and find a way to survive in whatever other dimension they were thrown into.

The bright flash of light was the last that Damon saw of that mysterious world before darkness overtook anything else, even his senses and his sense of direction that had aided him through a lot before.

Opening his eyes once the dizzying spinning sensation had finally stopped, he looked around himself at the forest trees that littered the hard, dirt ground, and then over to his immediate left at Bonnie. She was slowly returning to the world of the living (or dead), and was looking at him as though she had just seen him for the first time.

"Where-" she began, coughing back some dry mucus in her throat. "Where are we?"

It was clear that whatever she had been expecting, it wasn't to be subjected to landing in an eerily silent forest that was giving off the kind of vibes that she knew to pay attention to.

"I don't know," Damon replied. "It doesn't look like purgatory, but maybe that's what this is."

"The Other Side was supposed to be that," Bonnie reminded him, as she finally stood on her feet. "Maybe this is another form of-"

"Hell?" Damon supplied.

"No," Bonnie said, giving him the kind of sharp look that he was used to from her by now. "_Maybe_ this is somewhere where we-"

Whatever she had been about to say, was cut off when something knocked both of them to the ground. Straightening up with an annoyed huff, Damon looked over just as a male vampire charged toward them.

"Bonnie, look out!"


	15. Chapter 15

Waking up to the somewhat cheerful sounds of the birds chirping outside, and the breeze moving steadily as it shifted some weak trees outside, was the last thing Elena wanted to wake up to on a morning like this, as she sleepily rolled over on her back, trying to gain one more hour (or even a second) of sleep before resigning herself to fate, and opening one eye first, and then the other.

Sleep had been an impossible chore the night before. Alexandra had opted to sleep with her, no doubt scared of something either coming into her bedroom, or just wanting the security that Elena's presence gave her when her world had been flipped upside down again.

Pain seized and gripped her heart like a vice the instant her thoughts returned to Damon. It seemed cruel to her that the world could be so bright and cheerful when _nothing_ in her life was that way anymore, not since the day before when Damon had failed to return from the Other Side because of either Liv or Luke.

Palming her face tiredly, she tried to swallow back the lump she could feel in her throat as she turned her torso over to look at the crappy alarm clock the apartment had already bestowed upon the place before they arrived.

Seven AM. She had managed to fall asleep sometime in the early morning hours after listening to the sounds of her daughter's steady breathing, and when her own rambling thoughts finally managed to shut up and give her some much needed peace.

Today would be the day they would make the decision to either stay in the apartment where they were safe for the time being, or make the hazardous travel to the lake house where they would have more room to explore their options, and would have plenty of ample hunting forest for Ric and her daughter.

Looking back at her child, she saw her chest rise and fall quietly, and smiled softly. Alexandra had formed an adorable and cute bond with Damon, and now that he was gone, she had withdrawn into the quiet and often upset little girl they had found only a few weeks previously on the cement floor of an alleyway.

Sitting up and swinging her legs over the side of the bed, she stifled a yawn as she reached for some day clothes to put on. She would have loved to have been a little bit rebellious and wear her pajamas all day, but those fun times weren't that much fun anymore when she had other things to worry about, like bringing Damon and her best friend back.

Fluffing out her hair, she took one last look at her daughter's sleeping form, before wrenching the door open and venturing out into the family room/kitchen area. Only Ric, to her surprise, was up and about. For him, she knew the challenges of vampirism would only be heightened because of what he had been when he tried to kill Damon, and what his life had been like on the Other Side.

She felt for him.

She knew that she and Caroline would teach him all the ropes associated with maintaining a secretive supernatural life, but she also wasn't dumb and realized the transition would take him a little longer than most.

"Hey," Elena said, announcing her presence verbally, though she was sure Ric already heard her come out.

"Morning," he replied, lifting his coffee cup. "Coffee?"

"That's funny," Elena said, biting back a smile, she couldn't help it.

"What is?"

"You never used to be able to figure out my old coffee maker at the house, remember?"

"That thing hated me," Ric grumbled. "Do you want some?"

"Sure. Just make sure you load it with about ten teaspoons of cream and sugar."

"You got it."

Elena attempted a grateful smile, but she was sure it gave off the appearance of a grimace rather than an actual approximation of a smile.

It felt wonderful to have Ric's steady presence back in her life, but the joy of having that security blanket back, was diminished by the fact Damon wasn't there to celebrate in his return, and be with them as they tried to hatch a plan to bring back their loved ones.

"How long have you been up?" Elena asked, accepting the steaming cup Alaric passed over to her.

"I didn't sleep, actually. I tried, but it didn't do any good."

"I fell asleep after awhile," Elena said, as she stared down into the hot liquid as though it would magically conjure Damon from wherever he and Bonnie disappeared to.

"Tell me about Alexandra, she seems like a really sweet kid."

"Yeah, she is," Elena said, a smile coming across her face at the mention of her daughter. "She's so young to be in this life like she is, but she's handled it okay."

"You said in the car that she's Damon's kid?"

Elena nodded, screwing up her face so he wouldn't see the influx of tears that bringing him up verbally did to her. "Yeah, she is."

"Elena...I don't know how or even _when_ we're going to get him back, but we will."

Elena nodded, knowing that was the only hope she had to hold on to. "I know."

"Stefan wants to have a meeting later this morning about our options for either staying here, or going somewhere else."

"He mentioned something about going to the lake house," Elena put in.

"He did to me, too. It will be easier to cover everything if we're concealed someplace like that."

"I know."

The memories associated with that place would be one thing that she would have a hard time putting behind her, but she knew that if logistically it was safer to go that route, she would do it to keep the people she loved safe.

"Hi," Alexandra said, walking out into the kitchen, her little body still slacking with sleep as she rubbed her eyes with the heel of her hand, reminding Elena of herself doing that when she was her age.

"Good morning, sweetie," Elena said, getting off the island stool she had sat herself on for her morning coffee talk with Ric. "How did you sleep?"

Alexandra had had a hard time going to sleep the previous nights. Her mind, which had been slowly adjusting to the idea of being a vampire, had been thrust into a world of shock and hurt when Elena had told her Damon was dead. It had been difficult for her to find the right amount of calm to find rest.

"Bad," Alexandra sniffled. "I closed my eyes, and I saw bad things."

"What bad things?" Elena asked gently, as she used her finger to wipe her daughter's tears from her eyes.

"I—I saw Dad, and he was in a bad place with B—Bonnie."

"What did you see?" Elena asked, fighting to keep her voice under control as she exchanged startled glances with Ric.

"I saw them fighting some bad people. There were too many of them, and one of them won."

"The bad one?" Elena asked quietly, as she ran her hand through Alexandra's hair.

"Yeah."

"Listen, honey," Elena said, "dreams can be pretty scary, can't they?"

"Yes," Alexandra said, her bottom lip jutting out the way it did when she was upset about something. "'Specially when I see scary things happen to someone I love."

"Oh, honey," Elena said, drawing her daughter in for a hug. "I promise you, that wherever Dad is, he's okay."

"How do you know?"

"Call it woman's intuition," Elena said with a small smile. "It's unbeatable."

"How are we going to get him back?"

"I don't know that yet. But we'll figure out something that can help us, okay?"

"Okay."

* * *

The vampire had gone down with a quick use of a homemade stake Damon had improvised with when the vamp had charged Bonnie. It wasn't anyone he recognized at first glance, but when he crept closer, he saw the clothes the man was wearing, and it clicked inside his head.

"Who was it?" Bonnie asked, heaving a deep breath as she came to stand beside Damon.

"I didn't know him well," Damon replied. "Mostly a drifter."

"Who was it?"

"One of Katherine's accomplices," Damon said, using the name like it was a swear word.

"Oh," Bonnie said, as though she didn't need to hear anymore said. "On the Other Side, all the spirits sort of co-existed peacefully. I guess here it's-"

"A war zone," Damon said, "each of us poor fools fighting for survival."

"What happens if they die here?" Bonnie asked, tearing her eyes away from the stake that squished disgustingly inside the vampire's chest cavity.

"It does raise an interesting question," Damon mused. "Where does some poor SOB go when he dies here? Oblivion? Hell? Heaven?"

"Maybe...nowhere," Bonnie theorized. "Come on," she urged, taking one last look at the rotting corpse Damon had managed to kill. "We have to keep moving before something else finds us."

"Okay."

Turning a corner through a crack in the trees, a bright flash of light that nearly blinded both he and Bonnie, overtook them.

"What the hell?" Bonnie whispered.

"I don't know."

* * *

Elena had long ago reached her third cup of coffee by the time Stefan and Caroline finally woke up, and joined she, Alexandra and Ric in the living room to discuss their options regarding where they would go from there.

Elena didn't want to leave—even though she knew it was irrational—the apartment was the last place she and Damon had been together as a family, with Alexandra, right before he walked out to go destroy the Travelers.

The time to leave had come upon them, but she didn't want to think about that as she looked around at the group of people that were like family to her. If anyone would understand her pain, it should be them, but they had never been in the position she had been, in losing the love of her life and the father of the child they had adopted in their hearts together.

"So what do you think about leaving?" Stefan asked, directing the question directly to Elena.

"What's the rush?"

"I compelled a truck driver that was carrying renovation equipment, and he said the complex hired him to do work on this place because they were about to rent it out again."

"This one?" Elena asked, gesturing around the room they had taken over when they had been forced to run from the anti-magic spell.

"Yes. It's not supposed to start for another few days, but the landlord is getting antsy for it to get done."

"I know we have to go," Elena said, as she looked over at Alexandra, who was busy painting her nails with the help of Caroline. "But this place, as small and unimportant as it is, was the last place he and I were together as a family."

Those memories, even though they would seem inconsequential to most, were the ones she held on to the most. It was difficult to imagine leaving the last place she had seen him at his best, the last place where Alexandra had seen her father and gotten to interact with him.

"I know," Stefan said, reaching over to rub her arm. "But we can't be here when the crew comes to demolish it."

"I know that," Elena said, nodding as she tried to brush away the few tears she felt collecting in the corners of her eyes. "I know you were thinking about the lake house."

"We could have plenty of privacy there," Stefan said. "We need to teach Ric how to live like this, and the woods are chock full of animals that can serve as a supplement when we can't go out and get blood bags."

"And," Caroline put in, "we can also teach Alexandra how to hunt."

"I know," Elena said. "Its just-"

"The memories?" Stefan guessed.

Elena nodded. "Yeah."

The last time she had stepped foot inside the cabin of the lake house, she had been so completely in love with Damon, and even though the sire bond had complicated things, it was the beginning of realizing the feelings she harbored for the eldest Salvatore brother, and the beginning of her making the important distinction between her feelings for Stefan, and her feelings for his brother.

"We can go somewhere else-" Ric started to say.

"No, there is good," Elena said, taking a deep breath. "No vampires can get in without being invited in first, and the woods will be a good place to teach you and Alexandra to hunt."

"Are you sure?" Stefan pressed.

"Yeah. What about finding something on Damon and Bonnie?"

"We're working on it," Ric assured her. "We have a call-in to a mythology expert at Duke."

"Okay."

"Mom, can Caroline put decals on my nails?" Alexandra asked, showing her the dark purple polish Caroline had already applied to her nails.

"What kind of decals?" Elena asked suspiciously.

"Skulls," Alexandra said with a shrug.

"Is that what you _really_ want?" Elena asked skeptically.

"Yeah," Alexandra replied with a shrug.

"It's not like it can't wash off later," Caroline pointed out.

"Okay. Yeah, that's fine," Elena said, hardly feeling as though she could deny her daughter anything when she had been put through so much hell the last few weeks.

"Thank you!" Alexandra said.

"You're welcome, baby."

"Maybe when Dad comes back, I can show it to him."

"I think he would love that."

Even though she knew that Damon was long gone and was in another plane they had yet to figure out how to reach, she couldn't escape the distinct feeling that he was watching them somehow, still around, but unable to be seen by the people that loved him.

And she would be right.


	16. Chapter 16

Elena thought she would have gotten used to running by now, figured she would have gotten used to the sense of urgency that now possessed her every move as she slid under the bed to grab the duffel bag she had stored there for easy reach, and as her hands moved seemingly of their own accord to reach hers and her daughter's clothing to pack them in the bag they would be sharing for convenience, she tried to let go of the feeling that they would be leaving the last place they had really been together as a family: she and Damon and their new daughter.

Now they were being forced to leave due to the fact that Stefan had compelled a worker who had revealed that the apartment they were currently staying in, was due to be torn down and renovated in the coming days and weeks, making it impossible for them to stay under such dire circumstances, as the threat of exposure presented to them.

The lake house would be their next destination for the foreseeable future. It didn't bother Elena to go back there. She had many pleasant memories of fishing out on the docks with her father and Jeremy, and learning the ropes of cooking from her mother, but it was the last memory she had of the place that drove her anxiety now as she zipped up the bag and slung it over her shoulder.

The lake house was the last place she and Damon had been together without the stress and havoc of everyday life that Mystic Falls had presented to them. It was during a time where she had been unsure of a lot of things in her life, but her feelings for him, had never wavered, and it was that trip that had secured the deal for her, even so much as wanting to take the cure with him.

So much had changed.

Their lives.

Their family and friends.

And most importantly, the person that would be missing when she and her group of friends and daughter stepped through the door. The place would be good for teaching Ric and Alexandra how to hunt, but that was about all Elena was looking foreword to as she walked out into the living room where Stefan and the others were gathered.

It was obvious from the collected air of tenseness that the idea of moving to another location, wasn't favorable to anyone when they were all still seeking the answers they all deserved, but they didn't have another choice. Alexandra, in particular, was resisting the move, claiming that they needed to all be there in case Damon found his way back to them.

"Hey," Stefan said, looking up at the sound of her approach that his ears were able to pick up. "Is that everything?" he asked, directing his gaze to her single carry-on size bag.

"Yeah, it should be."

"Okay. If we leave soon, we can get there at a decent hour-"

"I don't want to go," Alexandra stated bluntly.

"Sweetie," Elena said, as she kneeled down in front of the chair Alexandra had sat herself in. "I know you don't want to go. I don't either. But we have to face facts-"

"I _thought_ you said we were getting Dad back," Alexandra said, lowering her eyes accusingly at her mother.

"We _are_. That has nothing to do with us leaving. The facts are, we have a construction crew coming in in a few days, and the last thing we need is to face exposure and the questions that would follow it."

In particular, facing the risk of being captured and tortured by the Augustine society. It had been five years of horrific torture for Damon, and days of it for her. The last thing she wanted, was to subject her innocent child to that trauma.

"Have you found the witch yet?"

"Liv?" Elena clarified. "No, we haven't."

"Where could she be?"

"That's the question," Caroline said, shaking her head. "She couldn't have gone too far, but we'll have more of a chance to explore around a bit once we get to the lake house."

"And I also have a call-in to that mythology expert at Duke," Ric put in.

"Exactly," Elena said softly, as she ran her hand through her daughter's silky hair. "We'll find him, baby, I promise you."

"_Really_ promise?" Alexandra prompted, raising an eyebrow in question.

"Really promise," Elena assured her, allowing a small smile to grace her features as she hooked her finger with her daughter's in a binding contract.

"Okay."

"Are you okay now?"

"Yeah."

"Good."

The drive wouldn't take too long, but all of them wanted to get an early start before the sun got too low over the sky and the less tame vampires started their hunting.

"Are you doing okay?" Stefan asked, as they walked out into the searing mid-summer sun to pack up their car.

"Yeah, I'm okay," Elena assured him, as she walked around him to climb in the front seat. "I just want to get there, you know?"

"I do. I also want to make sure that-"

"That what, Stefan?" Elena demanded quietly. "That I'm not going to break?"

It was something that most would have expected out of her when so many things had happened that went against her, but even though it was a thought that was sorely tempting to her, she refused to give her battered emotions the satisfaction of letting them know how badly hurt she was.

"No," Stefan said, shaking his head, denying the implications her words had brought out. "I was going to make sure that you weren't stacking too much on your shoulders that didn't belong there."

"I'm not. I'm fine," Elena said, doing her best to meet his steady expression with one of her own.

"Okay," Stefan said, nodding in acquiescence, as the others poured out of the apartment and piled into the car behind her.

* * *

Unknown to any of the people occupying the car as it drove down the long stretch of blacktop highway toward their ultimate destination, they weren't alone in their journey. Even though it was impossible for them to be seen by any of the people they loved, Damon and Bonnie were along for the ride as they squeezed in between a crack in the seats in the backseat.

When the Other Side had melted away, the ability for ghosts to be seen by mediums, people like Jeremy, had gone away also, but that didn't stop the ghosts from being able to maintain a somewhat steady foothold on the earth, just a less sturdy one.

For Damon, the ability to find the right door that had led to the point where he was able to see his loved ones, was a bittersweet one for him. He loved being able to see Elena and his daughter in high definition clarity, but it also pained him when he realized that they didn't have the foggiest idea he was even there.

"What's wrong?" Bonnie asked, catching the look that crossed over his features as he watched Elena bend her head low in the car, as though she was fighting off the tears she so clearly felt.

"What do you think?" Damon snapped, not in the mood to explain his feelings to her. "We're stuck in whatever the hell plane this is, while _Elena_," he said, through gritted teeth, "has no idea I'm even here."

"I know-"

"No, you don't," Damon interrupted, as he reached out a hand to stroke Elena's hair, even though she had no way of feeling it apart from the slight shift her hair made that she would no doubt attribute to the wind.

"Yes, I _do_. Jeremy's still there. I can see him. He can't see me. I'm stuck here while he's down there, trying to figure out how to find me."

"Whatever," Damon said, dismissing the notion of having a "bonding" moment over the fact that they were stuck in eternal damnation while the people that they loved, were searching for them.

"They're trying to find Liv and Luke-"

"The idiots that screwed the spell up? Big help," Damon said, rolling his eyes.

"They won't have to look far, but-"

"But what?"

"They can hold the answers to getting us back," Bonnie said carefully, gauging his reaction to that bit of information, "but the problem will be getting them to release it, the answer."

"Maybe they just need a little motivation."

* * *

The lake house was exactly how Elena remembered it, as she and the group slowly stepped foot over the threshold of the place and set their things down in their respective bedrooms. Caroline chose the one closest to the vanity bathroom, while Elena chose one that had a bedroom connected to another one through means of a small closet.

Alexandra would take the adjoining one, and be allowed to sleep with her mother when she was feeling nervous or frightened of something. The change of scenery would be nice for all of them, but walking through the house and looking out on the dock where she and Damon had sat together, it made her stomach squeeze uncomfortably with the realization that he should be there, and not on some other plane they had no clue how to reach.

"You doing okay?" Ric asked, as he came out from dropping his meager supply of belongings in his chosen bedroom.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay."

"Good."

"Are you okay?" Elena asked, studying him closely for the first time since he had really gotten back.

He looked okay for the most part, but she could detect circles under his eyes that could mean the difference between either hunger or exhaustion, and she knew which one it would be this time.

"Yeah, I'm hanging in there."

"Good."

"Those woods you mentioned, what kind of animals are there?"

"Deer mostly."

"That would be good game for Alexandra to start out with," he commented.

"I know. What about you?"

"I'm more of a moose or mountain lion kind of guy," Ric said with a teasing smile.

"Of _course_ you are," Elena said, shaking her head in amusement.

"Elena," Caroline said, skidding into the room, her perfectly controlled hair bouncing all over the place. "We found where Liv and Luke are."

"You _did_?"

"Yes."


	17. Chapter 17

Elena could feel her undead heart pounding with both the anticipation and dread of finally getting the answers she and Stefan and her daughter deserved from the two witches who had been in charge of the spell, and who had failed miserably in making sure that every single one of their loved ones returned from the Other Side before it destroyed itself.

Hearing that Stefan had managed to track down their location, was a relief to her, but it was also a cause of anxiety for her when she was reminded of how desperate they _all _were for answers, and to what lengths Stefan, especially, would go to to save his brother.

Pushing her hair out of her face and situating it into a loose bun at the nape of her neck, she sighed softly as she looked at Ric, knowing he would be the one in charge of babysitting while she and Stefan went out to locate them.

Over the last day or so, he had proved to be a great student in the woods when it came to hunting prey. His natural instincts as a hunter, plus his enhanced ones from being an Original vampire, aided him tremendously in his quest to make sure he had himself under control, and still be able to maintain the secretive part of his life that had come as a result of most people believing he was dead from a tragic, fatal accident.

"Hey," Ric said gently, drawing her out of her thoughts as she prepared to walk out the door toward Stefan's car. "You doing okay?"

It felt like he had been asking her that same question over and over for days now, and though she appreciated the concern, it was also riding on her because she knew she wasn't acting right, and it was all a result of the stress that Damon and Bonnie's death had presented to her.

In most other life and death situations, she had been fortunate enough to have Damon by her side. An unbeatable rock that had shielded her through some of the worst of the worst, especially when it came to their lives, and the struggles they had recently faced with Stefan, and then adopting a new little girl into their lives.

Living _without_ that crucial backup, had been a learning curve that Elena wasn't sure she wanted to keep riding, and though she knew that the witches wouldn't hand over the information they wanted willingly, she was hoping that the compassionate side of her would win out, and she would be able to endure whatever torture Stefan would have to perform to make them talk.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" she asked flippantly, trying to draw his attention _away_ from the fact that she was far from okay, and the longer she went without seeing Damon, the worse she sunk into the depression that had been teetering just on the edge of coming out in high definition.

"Well, I just know that you've been dealing with a lot. Losing...Damon and Bonnie, and then taking up the role of teacher with me and Alexandra. It would be a lot for most other people, Elena, but with you, it has to be unbearable," he counseled quietly, and she knew he was trying to get her to open up, reveal the parts of herself that hated the fact she was stuck on earth while he was stuck in some other plane with Bonnie.

"No, it's actually been a distraction. Getting away from this house for a few hours to teach you guys, has been helpful."

It had been, too. Forcing herself to leave the confines of the bedroom she had ensconced herself in, had proved to be helpful in relinquishing some of the grief in favor of focusing on other tasks, like teaching Alexandra how to hunt, and teaching Ric the same moves at the same time.

"I'm glad, Elena," he said sincerely, as he reached out a hand and patted her shoulder.

"How have _you_ been?" Elena asked, as the sounds of Stefan's distinctive, lumbering footsteps reached her sensitive hearing.

"I've been okay. It's been difficult adjusting, but I've been okay."

"You haven't felt any strange urges lately?"

"You mean to kill you? Or Alexandra?"

Elena nodded, not quite able to get the words out herself. "Yeah."

"No, I haven't. Like I said, the only disgust I feel, is for myself."

"Ric-" Elena said, shaking her head slowly at the idea of how much Ric despised himself for what he had become, even though he hadn't had a chance to defend himself against Esther and her sick plot to kill her family.

"No, it's okay, Elena. It'll get better once I get the hang of this whole hunting thing. Has Alexandra managed to snag something yet?"

As it turned out, Elena's natural compassion toward the suffering of humans and animals alike, extended toward her daughter now. Alexandra had taken one look at a grazing doe, and had instantly refused the pull toward the animal that the bloodlust had created.

"No, not yet. It's a work in progress. She likes to drink blood out of cups, but she can't imagine the idea of killing something yet."

Elena understood how she felt. It had been something _she_ struggled with during the early days of her transition, when her compassionate nature had been in overdrive, and the thought of killing anything, let alone an animal, had been repulsive to her.

"She'll get the hang of it," Ric assured her.

"I hope so."

"Are you ready?" Stefan asked, walking back into the room with a bag of weapons slung across one shoulder as he wrenched open the door.

"Where did you find them?" Elena asked, as she followed him out the door and toward his car.

"Near Whitmore campus."

A few miles outside Rosewood. They would be able to track them down while still remaining a safe distance away from the anti-magic spell the Travelers had created, that was still in intact.

"What _exactly_ are you planning on doing once we find them?" Elena asked, an edge of nervousness creeping into her tone as she slid into the front seat of the car.

"Getting answers," Stefan replied, something about the smooth edge to his voice, putting her on edge as he drove out of the exclusive driveway of the lake house and out onto the main road.

"How?"

"By any means necessary."

* * *

The Whitmore campus wasn't located too far from the lake house, and with Stefan's driving, they were able to reach it in a reasonable amount of time to snag the witches who had betrayed them. Stepping out into the harsh sunlight, Elena's eyes scanned the group of congregated students for two in particular.

"Do you see them?" Stefan asked.

"No."

Walking through the double doors that led to the different classes that were in session for the day, she spotted two blond's up ahead. It wasn't hard to separate them from the other students, especially with the way they hung back from the others, and how closely they stuck together out of protection for the other.

"That's them?" Stefan asked, gesturing to where Elena was zeroing in on them.

"Yeah—yeah that's them," Elena said, nodding, as she increased the pace in which she had previously been walking. "Let's go."

Speeding up, she reached out a hand and clamped it down on Liv's shoulder. The veteran witch instinctively blocked the attack, but upon realizing who it was, the flare that had previously struck her, died down as she looked over at her brother who had been cornered by Stefan.

"What do you want?" Liv whispered fiercely.

"We want answers," Elena replied evenly, as she and Stefan each grabbed one of the twins and towed them to an empty classroom at the end of an abandoned hallway. "And you're going to give them to us," she said, as she flipped the lock on the closed door.

"What _answers_?" Luke demanded warily, as Stefan pushed him into a flimsy wooden chair, and began tying his hands behind his back.

"Why you did what you did," Stefan said, as he watched Elena tie Liv up.

"What do you mean?" Liv spat, looking at Elena as though she wished nothing more than for the vampire to drop dead in front of her.

"Why you stopped the spell," Elena said, stepping back to allow Stefan to do what he had to do.

"What do you mean?"

"You stopped the spell," Stefan said, unsheathing a knife that had been stuck to his leg. "Why?"

"It wasn't her fault," Luke said, a look of true panic crossing through his soft eyes as he looked at Stefan. "It wasn't Liv's fault," he whispered.

"What do you mean?" Elena asked.

"She was doing the spell. It would have killed her. I performed a counter-spell and forced her to stop."

"So," Stefan said, as he grasped the knife tightly in his hand. "You were the one who made it impossible for my brother," he said, slamming the knife into the top of Luke's leg. "To come back?"

"Yes," Luke gasped, his face twisting grotesquely into a mask of agony. "It was my fault. Let her go. I _swear_, I'll give you information, just let her go."

Elena nodded. "Fine," she said, as she bent down to undue the bonds in which she had tied the young witch up with. "Go."

"You're crazy-" Liv started.

"Go!" Stefan ordered. "Now!"

"You people are insane if you think-"

"Liv, go!" Luke gasped, "I can take care of myself. I'm a big boy."

"Last time I checked, not so much," she replied, as she inched toward the exit.

"Listen," Elena said, taking a chance and approaching her former captive. "We aren't going to kill him. We just need information out of him, okay?"

It was clear that it was far from "okay" with her, but with a quiet sigh of resignation, she opened the door and slunk out of it, but not before making it clear she would be hanging around the outside of the door in case anything should happen that would require her attention.

"Listen," Stefan said, once Liv had vacated the room. "I understand the need to protect your sibling. You see, I feel the same way about my brother. The brother," he said, as he twisted the knife further down into his leg. "That you ensured never left the Other Side."

"I wouldn't sacrifice my sister for you."

"Well, that's too bad," he said, as he jerked the knife out of his leg and plunged it back in. "Because we can keep doing this all night, but you better start talking sooner or later."

"What do you want?"

"A way for you to reverse what you did."

"There isn't a way to fix it," Luke snarled.

"You see, unlike you, I wasn't born yesterday. You've been a practicing witch since you were in diapers. You have to know _something_," Stefan said. "And the other thing is," he said, as he chose another spot in Luke's leg to stick the knife. "I can heal you with my blood, and we can do this all night long."

"Stefan-" Elena started, getting increasingly uncomfortable watching someone being tortured, even though this one rightfully deserved it, at least in her eyes.

"He knows something, Elena."

"Even if I _did_ know," Luke amended, "why would I trust you?"

"Because," Elena said, deciding to take her turn with trying to convince him to help them. "I promise you that if you help us do this, you never have to see me again. Or any of us."

"How do I know you're not planning on screwing us over?"

Elena sighed, before bringing her wrist up to her mouth and biting through a vein. "Drink," she ordered, placing her bleeding hand up to his unwilling mouth.

Giving her a look of pure loathing, he obliged as he drank the disgusting liquid. "What was that for?"

"That was to show you you could trust me. I healed you. I'm not saying I won't let Stefan continue to do his knife job, but I can promise you that I'll make him stop if you agree to help us."

"I can help."

"How?" Stefan demanded.

"It's not foolproof. I've never done it myself."

"What is it?"

"A spell to fix everything that happened."


	18. Chapter 18

It was difficult to gauge correctly whether Luke was lying to save his own skin, or telling the truth because Stefan managed to torture it out of him. Either which way it was, hearing that there was a possible cure-all solution to their problem, had the hairs on the back of Elena's neck standing on edge as she walked closer to where he was still bound on the rickety chair that had doubled as as weapon for keeping him immobilized.

For Elena, knowing that there was a possible fix to get Damon and Bonnie back from their imposed sentence in supernatural purgatory, was a dream that she hadn't ever thought would come to fruition so quickly, and without serious consequences to back it up, but hearing that there was something Luke might be able to do, filled her with a dangerous sense of hope that she knew might possibly be the death of her if it didn't pan out the way it was supposed to.

Looking over at her rigid ex-boyfriend, she saw him tilt his head to the side, as though he was considering the possibility that he was being duped for the sole purpose of getting out of that chair and back to his sister, who was still standing guard by the door, as though she seriously entertained the idea of being able to protect him from whatever the vampires would do.

Running her hand across her mouth in silent contemplation of the matter, Elena took another step foreword toward the powerful witch, not missing when he flinched out of sheer terror of something else happening to his already compromised body.

"How do I know you're telling us the truth?" she challenged, not paying any attention to anyone (or anything) but Luke.

"You _don't_," he mocked, matching her tone to a T. "But I guess you'll have to learn to trust me-"

"I'm sorry," Stefan said, stepping foreword, ruining the fine work Elena had attempted in trying to get through to him, to reach a deeper level of trust and understanding so that there wouldn't be any future mess-ups. "I have a hard time trusting someone who went back on their word-"

"I never promised to help you to begin with. It was my _sister_ who agreed to do the spell because you forced her-"

"Because we had people on the Other Side who didn't deserve that fate," Elena said, throwing a glance over to the side at Stefan, silently warning him not to interrupt her this time. "People who deserved to live."

"And my sister didn't matter in all of this?" he challenged, raising an eyebrow.

"We could have healed her," Stefan said quietly, the fire gone from his eyes, and desperation replacing it. "You know that."

"All I know is that the spell was killing her. A second longer, and she would have been gone."

"Luke," Elena said, "I know we haven't had the easiest time of establishing trust, but I need you to know that I won't go back on my word, if you agree to help."

"Like I said-"

"This spell can bring him back, right?"

"Possibly," Luke clarified. "It's never been done before in modern times. The last time my coven attempted it, was hundreds of years ago, back in the stone ages."

"I don't really care," Stefan said. "You get your grimoire and do whatever it is you think you need to do."

"It's not as simple as muttering some hocus pocus and getting the desired results. It has to be done at a full moon on the third week of the month, and it can only be done with specific ingredients."

"The next full moon on the third month-" Elena said, trying to calculate the mental math in her head.

"Is two weeks away," Luke finished for her.

"The father of my child," Elena said, lowering her voice to show the amount of seriousness she put in this matter. "Is on whatever plane he was forced into when the Other Side disappeared. My best friend is there also, I think you can manage it."

"Alright," Luke said with a resigned sigh, as though he realized he had no further choice. "Alright fine. You got the spell. We'll do it."

"Thank you," Elena said diplomatically, when she realized that Stefan was still too upset to further interact with the witch. "It means a lot-"

"I'm glad. Now could you please undo me?"

"Sure."

* * *

"Do you think he was telling the truth?" Stefan asked, his voice riddled with doubt as he politely held the door open for Elena once they reached the seclusion of the lake house.

"I don't know," Elena said, shaking her head. "I guess all we have to do is wait and see. We can't go killing our only shot of this working out," she added, fixing him with the kind of look that made it clear she was thinking he would be capable of doing something like that.

"No, I know, but if he ends up screwing us over again, I will snap his neck without a seconds thought," he warned, as they stepped over the threshold of the home, and across the hardwood flooring into the living room.

"I know you will."

Even though, for years, she had only gotten used to the kindhearted Stefan, the one who would go to any lengths necessary to avoid violence and death, over the last year or two, she had gotten used to a more darker side of the man she once loved.

In a way it was comforting to know the means he would go to to make sure they all made it back, but in another way, it was completely terrifying.

"Hi," Alexandra said, cutting off their semi-private conversation as she met them in the living room where she had been engrossed in a game she had been playing with Ric. "Where were you guys?"

"We were trying to get information from Liv and Luke about what they could do to help us," Elena replied smoothly, as she bent down to talk one-on-one with her daughter.

"Can they help us?"

"I think so. There's a spell Luke said he could do. He can't do it for another two weeks, but at least he agreed to help us," Elena said, trying desperately to see on the bright side of things, even though the idea of waiting, was grating on her nerves, the thought of postponing their reunion.

"Why two weeks?" Alexandra asked suspiciously.

"Because it has to do with the phases of the moon," Stefan explained. "The next full moon is in two weeks."

"What else?"

"I don't know," Elena said. "He'll let us know more when the time comes."

"Okay."

"Did you and Ric have fun?" Elena asked, watching as the newly resurrected vampire came out to meet them.

"Oh yeah," Ric said, rolling his eyes. "She beat me twice at Bingo, and then at Chess."

"She's a girl of many talents," Elena said, smiling down at her little girl. "Aren't you?"

"I guess so," Alexandra replied, shrugging sarcastically.

"I know so," Elena contradicted. "Have you fed recently?"

Out of everyone, Elena knew the struggles Alexandra had faced with completing her transition at only ten, and then coming to grips with the fact that she would need blood to survive. Human food did great in a pinch, which she preferred to the real nourishment of the blood, but Elena had been trying to get her used to animal blood, and then people blood.

"Not since you left," the little girl replied as her bottom lip jutted out, her way of denying the fact that she would have to do something she didn't like, and hoping that her charms would win out in the end.

"Do you want to go out in the forest?" Elena asked, already predicting the response she would get from that simple suggestion.

Even though she was a new vampire, Alexandra had resisted the idea of having to kill to live. It wasn't something her sweet soul could take easily, and even the idea of drinking something already stored and sealed in a blood bag, was repulsive to her.

"I don't want to kill," she whispered, shaking her head, as she shifted uneasily on her feet.

That had been one of the toughest things about her transition, and the one fact of vampirism that she had flat-out rejected. It wasn't easy for a ten-year-old to get used to the concept of killing, even when it was an animal, and it was hard for her to get used to that now.

"I know, baby, and I know that you're content, for the most part, with blood bags, but you need to learn how to feed before something happens and you don't know how to approach the situation."

"Why can't I deal with blood bags instead?"

"Because you need to learn more control. I would rather it be with an animal, then for me to compel someone for you to feed on."

"But what if I kill it?" she whispered brokenly.

"You might," Elena conceded bluntly. "It's an unfortunate part of this whole deal. You end up making mistakes eventually."

Even in her new days as a vampire, she had harbored the same fears as her daughter. With her compassion being her Achilles heel, it had served her well in some instances, and had served her terribly in other situations.

"Did you ever-"

"Kill?" Elena prompted, when her daughter hesitated on the word. "I did once or twice, but the deaths, if it makes it any easier on you, they were bad people who were trying to harm us."

"What if I-"

"Kill someone?"

A single nod from her daughter in answer.

"You could. Mostly, this place is surrounded by dense forest. It's a prime spot for hunting deer and other animals like that, but mostly it's clear of people."

"And that's why you want me to hunt here?"

"That's right, at least until you gain better control over your emotions and your instincts."

As a ten-year-old child vampire with heightened, fluctuating emotions, it was difficult to know when an outburst would occur. For her, the last time she had really broken down, had been when she first turned. It had been a terrible shock to her, and she reacted the only way that came naturally to her.

Elena hoped that she could avoid more of the same pain, even if she wound up making a mistake along the way. It was difficult to know the right responses when Damon had been such a pro at interacting with her, and especially tuning into her different moods.

"Okay," Alexandra said, nodding in submission.

"You want to go now?"

"Yes."

* * *

Elena could feel the tension radiating off her daughter as they walked deeper into the heart of the forest that surrounded the lake house. In an effort to keep herself under control, the little girl had glued herself to Elena's side, shaking uncontrollably as her senses obviously picked up the distinctive smell of blood coming from somewhere in the near distance.

"Push back," Elena reminded her softly as she took her hand. "Visualize control."

"I smell something," she whimpered.

"I know. I do, too. But can you tell the difference?"

"What do you mean?"

"The difference between the different scents. That sickly sweet smell? That's a person that's out here," Elena said, feeling a hint of nervousness creep into her own system at the idea of her daughter being so close to a human when she was out of control. "And the less potent smell, that's an animal."

"I—I," Alexandra gasped, her entire body shivering as she tried to fight off the bloodlust. It had been awhile since she had been thrust into the position of having to defend herself against the insatiable cravings.

"It's okay," Stefan said, stepping foreword and placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "It's okay, you can do this."

"No-"

"Yes," Caroline put in. "It will be okay."

Without warning, she vanished as she started toward her intended victim. Who that victim was, animal or human, they didn't know, and that was what drove their fear as they each took off in the direction Alexandra had disappeared in.

Her undead heart pounding with the anticipation of something horrible happening, Elena searched frantically for her child, keeping her eyes and ears pinned for the tiniest sound that would indicate her location.

The heart-rending scream of a person—a man—in danger, stopped Elena short, as her sensitive sense of smell picked up the smell of fresh blood, and it wasn't just concealed behind the thin layering of skin that usually coated it.

This was fresh, and out in the open.

Dread clawing at her entire being, she sprinted toward the smell, knowing it would be a siren call to most other vampires, especially her daughter, but only this time, Elena knew that Alexandra had been the one to do the attacking. Stopping short when she saw the blood carnage right in front of her, she pushed back as many of her own feelings as she possibly could, as she leaned down by her frozen daughter, ignoring the dead body that laid at her feet.

"Alexandra," Elena whispered, reaching for her arm. "Baby, look at me."

"I...I killed him," the child whispered, her voice terrifyingly numb. "I...I smelled the blood and I did this."

Elena nodded softly, looking over her shoulder at the faint sounds of Stefan and Caroline's approach, giving them a nonverbal shake of her head as a signal to stay back while she tried to get through to her daughter.

"You did," she said softly. "You lost control and-"

"I killed someone," she said, seeming to come out of her trance as her voice broke. "I killed him. I didn't even b—blink," she sobbed. "I didn't mean to-"

"Honey, I know, I know," Elena said. "You didn't mean to, and that's absolutely right."

"How could I do this?"

"You didn't mean to."

"But I did!" she screamed. "I want Dad."

"Honey, Dad isn't-"

"I know that! But I still want him. He's the only one who understands me. He's the only one who knows what this is like!"

"That's not true," Elena said, shaking her head. "Sweetheart, listen to me," she urged, as she used her thumbs to wipe away the tears that had fallen like a river down her face. "He knows what that's like, but so do we all. We all know what this is feels like."

It was obvious her controlled reaction to Damon dying, had only been a front for a bigger meltdown later, because Elena could see some of the same grief start to come out again, only this time in a much bigger way than before.

"I want Dad."

"I know," Elena said, a few tears of her own falling down her face as she looked over at Stefan and Caroline, and saw their own eyes shining with tears for the pain they felt for Alexandra. "I miss him too, more than you could ever know, baby, but he's going to be coming back."

"How?" she said fiercely. "Through some witches that already screwed him over?" she swore.

"As unfair as it sounds," Caroline said, "they're our only hope to get them back."

"He never should have died," Alexandra sobbed. "Why did this have to happen!"

"I don't know," Elena said, shaking her head slowly. "I wish I knew."

"It's been so hard without him here, too. With you guys, I felt like I had parents again."

"You've been so strong," Elena mused. "You're afraid to show your emotions, aren't you?"

"Because if I cry," she said, fighting Elena when she moved to put her arms around her. "I won't ever stop."

"Yes, you will. It may not seem like it now, but you will."

"How?"

"Because you will," Elena coaxed firmly. "You will. I promise you. Cry. It's just us, and Stefan and Caroline, people who love you more than you could ever know."

And for once, the little girl followed her mother's advice and sobbed, burying herself against Elena's body as her entire body shook with the force behind the cries. It was more than losing someone she was close to, like Damon, but it was the knowledge that every single person had left her that she truly loved, except for Elena. She was the only one who hadn't left her yet.

"I got her," Elena whispered, once she saw that Alexandra had actually fallen asleep out of sheer exhaustion.

"Okay," Stefan said quietly, as he stepped around her to get a better view at the body. "I'll take care of this."

"Okay, thank you."

Together, with Caroline, she walked back to the lake house with her precious cargo in tow.


	19. Chapter 19

The little girl hardly stirred as Elena shifted her weight around in her arms while she and Caroline made their way back to the lake house from the forest they had been in when the bloody carnage had happened. Alexandra had been unfailingly strong throughout the last few days since Damon had died, and now that strength had ebbed and cracked, and though Elena hated the fact that she had to experience the trauma of her first human kill, it was a fact of vampirism that even she wasn't immune to.

Walking up the porch steps that she and Jeremy had once upon a time painted together, she and Caroline walked through the spacious ranch-style home and down the hallway that led to a series of bedrooms that her friends and family had recently taken up residence in.

Opening the first door on the right, she walked in slowly and carefully, before depositing her daughter in the bed they had chosen for her, one that led directly to Elena's bedroom by an adjoining bathroom. It was nice to have that close proximity to Alexandra, especially with how tenuous her emotions had been lately, culminating in her breakdown over the corpse she had left behind.

When her body came in contact with the subtle shift from her mother's strong hold, to the softness of her bed, Alexandra's eyes blinked open drowsily as she locked eyes with her. Even though she was still deeply in the throes of sleep, Elena could see awareness begin to creep into her expression.

"Mom?"

"Shh, I'm right here," Elena soothed, smoothing her bangs from her forehead. "I'm right here, baby girl."

Alexandra nodded. "What happened?"

"It's not important right now. I want you to try to go back to sleep, okay?"

It was obvious to her that Alexandra was contemplating whether or not she would choose to listen and try to rest, or would choose the other route and argue against Elena's suggestion.

If there was one personality trait Alexandra shared with her adoptive mother, it was their shared stubbornness that clashed when one or both of them was expressing a view or want that the other did not share.

"What happened to the body?" she asked, her blue eyes filling with tears when she thought back to what she had done when she lost control out in the woods.

"Stefan is taking care of it," Elena assured her quietly.

"Okay."

"I want you to go to sleep, okay? You've had a long day already."

"Okay."

Grateful that Alexandra wasn't putting up a fight over taking a much needed nap, Elena waited until her eyes were closed, before quietly standing up from her seated position on the bed.

"Is she going to be okay?" Caroline asked softly as they walked back out into the living room.

"Yeah. I think it might take a few days to recover from the shock, but it's nothing that we haven't experienced before," Elena pointed out, as she and Caroline sat together on the couch.

"Yeah, but our emotions when we turned, were more mature. With a child, she's stuck in the mental age that she transitioned in. She's ten, Elena, and can you imagine a normal kid living through the guilt of killing someone?"

Elena shook her head, gratefully accepting the drink that Caroline poured for her. "No, I can't."

"She really loves Damon," Caroline said , stating the obvious as she stared thoughtfully into the distance.

"Yeah, she does. She thinks he really understands her, and he does."

Even though Damon had only gotten the chance to be a father for a short time, he had taken the time he had and used it to create a lasting bond with his daughter, even one that was still alive and ticking after his demise.

"What kind of father was he?" Caroline asked.

"A good one," Elena said without hesitation. "He was really patient and gentle with her, like he is with me, and he never lost confidence in her ability to master the cravings. Even when I had my doubts, he was never one to doubt her."

When Alexandra briefly lost control in the clothing store, Damon had handled the situation effortlessly and had managed to induce the right amount of calm in his new daughter for her to be okay. It was those moments, and the one where Damon had read to her, that Elena missed the most. They were a team in every sense of the word, and without his crucial backup, she felt lost, and she knew their daughter did, too.

"She's a daddy's girl," Caroline mused. "Like I was before my Dad wanted to kill me."

"He didn't...he didn't understand," Elena said, placing a reassuring hand on her friend's knee.

"I know. I'm sorry, Elena," Caroline said, after a seconds pause.

"About what?"

"About my sucky attitude toward Damon," Caroline said, looking appropriately ashamed of her past attitude toward the eldest Salvatore.

"You should be apologizing to him. Not to me," Elena said.

"I know, I know," Caroline said, wringing her hands. "He just got under my skin in a really bad way, and I never really got over how he used me-"

"But you also need to remember that all of that is in the past," Elena reminded her. "The Damon that did that to you, had his emotions turned off. He hasn't been like that in nearly three years, has he?"

"No, and that's why I'm apologizing right now."

"I appreciate it."

"And when we get he and Bonnie back, I'll be on my best friend behavior with him."

"That will make things a _lot_ easier," Elena said, smiling slightly.

"Good."

Sighing softly, she looked over when Stefan entered the house. His hands had remains of dirt and blood on it from burying the man Alexandra had managed to overpower and kill. Giving him a small smile of thanks, Elena moved over to make room for him to sit down.

"I buried his body," Stefan said, stating the obvious.

"Thank you."

Stefan nodded in recognition of her acknowledgment. "How is she?"

"She's okay. She's in her room sleeping it off."

"Good. I thought you handled it all really well."

"I did my best," Elena said with a sigh, tearing her eyes away from Stefan and Caroline when she could feel the all too familiar moisture start to fill the corners of her eyes. "It's just hard when the _one_ parent she wants, isn't here."

Stefan nodded, bowing his head as he pinched the bridge between his nose and eyes, still clearly struggling with the fact that the only family he had, wasn't there anymore. "We'll get him back, Elena. For both of you."

Elena nodded, knowing that he was right, that they would find a way to stop what fate had dealt them and get Damon and Bonnie back with them where they both belonged.

She was cut off from answering when her phone vibrated in her pocket. Her brows furrowing in confusion, she reached for it, looking at the caller ID screen.

"Who is it?" Caroline asked, catching the look of apprehension that passed through her friend's face.

"Luke," Elena said, shaking her head in confusion as she pushed the button to accept the call. "Hello?"

It was hard to refrain from speaking to him in a tone of anger when her every nerve was filled with the contempt she felt for him for being the one to stop the spell. But he was the only hope they had of saving Damon and Bonnie, he and his sister.

_Hi, Elena. This is Luke._

"Yeah—yeah I know," Elena said, exchanging glances with Stefan and Caroline. "What do you want?"

_I wanted to update you on the spell that I mentioned I could do. _

"What about it?"

_This spell, like I told you earlier, hasn't been attempted in hundreds of years. It's a powerful spell that goes against our very nature. We only used it once before, and that was to bring back a member of our coven, who ironically, was killed by a vampire._

"Wow," Elena said, shaking her head in disbelief. "That's an unfortunate twist."

_We brought her back with the spell I mentioned, _Luke continued. _But the spell was only used for witches. It's never been used on a vampire before, and even though it would work, there's no way that my coven would agree to help. _

"Why not?" Elena asked, swiping her hand across her mouth nervously.

This was exactly what she wanted to avoid; having a loophole pop up somewhere that would make it harder to get Damon and Bonnie back.

_No offense_, Luke warned. _But our coven thinks that your kind, are disgusting leeches who deserve to burn in hell for the sins you committed._

"Tell me what they really think," Elena said, shaking her head.

_I'm sorry. They won't help you, but that doesn't mean I can't. I'll get in trouble, but I can't let it sit on my conscience that two people who don't deserve to be where they are, would be there because of me. I'll help you._

"Thank you," Elena said, feeling as though a weight had been lifted off her chest. "You said the timing had to do with the phases of the moon?"

In order for the spell to be truly effective, Luke had made a point of saying that the spell called for performing it during the next full moon on the third week of the month, nearly two weeks away. It was frustrating, but it was one of those kinks that had to be dealt with for the greater good.

_Correct. The legend goes that our powers are strongest during the full moon on the third week of the month. Once that hits, we'll get everything we need and be ready to go. _

"Will it be hard getting the ingredients?"

_No. Most of the things we need, actually comes from you and your family. Some of the ritual stuff, I can get from my own collection._

"Okay, good."

At least he was still telling them he could help instead of listening to his misguided coven. Her mind reeling from the revelations she had just heard, she leaned back in her seat as she tried to wrap her brain around everything that had happened in such a short amount of time.

_When this is all over-_

"When Damon and Bonnie are back, you don't ever have to interact with us again. If we see each other, we'll just go our separate ways. You don't have to be tangled up in this anymore, but I need them back first."

_I know. We will._

* * *

It was hard watching everything unfold before him without him being able to do anything to help Elena, and the people who were trying to find him. Unbeknownst to Elena or his daughter, he had been watching them when Alexandra had made her first kill, and the ensuing breakdown that followed it.

Now he and Bonnie were stuck on another plane, far removed from being able to watch their loved ones. It came and went in spurts of different days. Some days he would be granted the right to see Elena and Alexandra, and on other days he and Bonnie were transported right back to the plane they initially landed on.

"Are you okay?" Bonnie asked, catching the look on Damon's face as he perched himself on a large rock. They had been thrown back into the arena-like area they had first landed on, and were unable to see Elena or any of their friends and family.

"Oh, yeah, I'm great," Damon remarked sarcastically. "My daughter made her first kill, and had a breakdown where she wanted me, and I was unable to be there because of a warlock that we have no choice but to rely on. I'm _great_."

Bonnie nodded, brushing some of her hair back from her face as she tried to figure out the best angle to approach Damon from next. It was difficult to get to know him on a personal level when she had spent so much energy on hating him, and now that they were forced together, it was a constant struggle to gauge his moods.

"Remember when Elena made _her_ first kill?" Bonnie asked.

"Of course I do. She blamed me. It was my fault because I made her do it, not knowing she was sired to me."

"Alexandra is a tough little girl," Bonnie said, "I wish I had as much spunk when I was her age."

"Right now, she's crumbling without me," Damon said, looking away from Bonnie. "Because she needs me, and I can't be there, literally."

"Well, Elena and Stefan have a plan to bring us back," Bonnie pointed out, trying to inject as much hope into the equation as she possibly could.

"A plan that could fall apart if the he-witch suddenly decides to pull a freeze and put a stop to it again."

"He won't do it again," Bonnie promised him. "He can't—there's too much at stake now."

"His precious neck?" Damon said bitingly. "That's the only thing he's worried about."

"Well, maybe he is, but at least he's helping us, going against his own people to do it, too."

"We'll see if it actually works or not," Damon said, his tone hinting that he didn't hold too much hope for that fact.

"It will."


	20. Chapter 20

It was difficult for Elena to wait for the correct phasing of the moon, not when the lives of her best friend and boyfriend were at stake, when they were caught on what was left of the Other Side because of a spell that should have been brought to its rightful conclusion. Getting the call from Luke that promised he would help regardless of his covens support, was a huge step in the right direction, and one she was hard-pressed to ignore.

It had been just under a week since Damon and Bonnie had died, and though the pain from their deaths was still as strong and present as ever, Elena tried to inject as much normalcy into her daily routine as she possibly could; more for Alexandra's sake than for her own. The little girl deserved as much happiness and hope as she could possibly acquire, and that was what Elena tried to do for her.

Alexandra had shared a close bond with her adoptive father and not having him around, had been a shock to her system that had not fully come out until the day before when she lost control and had murdered an innocent man when her cravings got the best of her.

Brushing her hair out of her face, Elena walked into her bedroom, where Alexandra was sprawled out over her bed, the blankets covering her petite body as she looked over when her mother entered the room. They shared their own special relationship, and Elena was hoping to deepen that shaky bond they had established, and hopefully make this period easier on her daughter.

Coming around to the other side of the bed, she sat down, breathing deeply, trying to ward off the sting of Damon's absence, before lying down next to her daughter. Almost on reflex, Alexandra curled her body closer to her mother, needing the emotional closeness that the move presented.

Over the last few months, she had suffered through the loss of her parents by murder, and then had gone through a vampire cruelly turning her for his own pleasure, and leaving her to figure out the rest on her own. Elena shuddered to think what would have happened had she and Damon not come across her when they had.

"Hey, sweetie," Elena said softly. "What are you doing?"

"Looking at you," Alexandra replied bluntly, in typical Damon-like sarcasm.

"I can see that," Elena said, shaking her head in amusement. "What else are you doing?"

"I was waiting for you."

"What for?"

"Because I knew you would be coming in here, and I wanted to spend some time with you."

Elena smiled. "I wanted that, too."

"Who were you talking to on the phone earlier?"

"Luke, the warlock who's going to be helping us get Dad and Bonnie back."

Putting her faith and trust in someone who had already screwed them over, was something that Elena couldn't quite get over, but if this person was willing to reverse the wrong he committed, then she was all for it.

"Wasn't he the one who made sure Dad and Bonnie didn't come back?" Alexandra asked, turning her strikingly blue eyes on her mother.

"In a way, yes, but he was trying to make sure his sister didn't become too overwhelmed and wind up killing herself. In a sick way, I can understand it, because I know I would do the same thing for Bonnie if I could."

"But because he made her stop," Alexandra pointed out, "Dad is gone, and so is Bonnie."

"I know," Elena said softly. "But hopefully he's going to be coming back soon."

In her mind, there was no way that Damon _wouldn't_ be coming back to them eventually. If their plans with Luke fell through, she knew that she would scour the ends of the earth to find a solution to their problem, it would just be slightly more inconvenient.

"I miss him."

"I know you do, baby," Elena said, pulling her daughter close. "I do, too. I actually thought of an idea."

"What kind of idea?" Alexandra asked suspiciously, but with enough curiosity that it ruined the effect of her previous tone.

"When I was young, about your age, my mother gave me a journal to write in. It could be about anything, but mostly when it's something that you want to keep private and not include anyone else in on."

"That's kind of cool. Kind of like a secret best friend."

"Right, and so I figured that maybe," Elena said with an exaggerated shrug. "We could write together sometimes. Maybe it would help you sort through stuff you don't feel like talking to me about."

Alexandra nodded. "I would like that. But I could share stuff with you if I want to, right?"

"Of course you can," Elena said, brushing her thumb across her child's face, "and I want to be the first person you go to always, but for those little things you can't tell anyone about, you can write it and seal it away."

"Did you write in your journal a lot?"

"_All_ the time. It was pretty helpful through sophomore year."

"Why?"

"Because I was going through a lot of doubts about my future," Elena said with a sigh, "and my boyfriend at the time, and it was all very confusing inside my head."

"And it helped to put it down on paper?"

"Yeah, it did."

"Okay."

"So you want me to get you one?"

"Can I pick it out?"

"Of course you can."

Elena was relieved she had managed to get through to her daughter, and actually get a chance to bond with her over something that both of them had a shared interest in. It had been awhile since she used her journal, but she was hoping to get back into the hobby of it now that she knew her daughter was expressing interest in it.

Going out into the kitchen, she seated herself at the island counter, watching as Stefan and Caroline prepared some dinner for all of them. It had never escaped her notice that both Salvatore brothers were gifted at cooking, especially Italian, their roots. Damon had made she and Alexandra a meal before he died, and now Stefan was doing it again for her.

"What are you making?" Elena asked.

"Something resembling food," Caroline said, a whiny lilt to her voice, "but the burner doesn't like me."

"It's the user," Stefan teased smoothly. "Just like a camera or a computer. You have to familiarize yourself with the machine first."

"Then you do it," Caroline said with a huff, crossing her arms petulantly across her chest. "This thing hates me."

Elena shook her head, smiling, glad to see that she could still find it in herself to have fun, even though her entire world was coming apart at the seams thanks to the witches and the Travelers.

"Where's my niece?" Stefan asked, looking over at Elena once he had successfully managed to get the burner working correctly.

Even though it would be impossible for Stefan to replace the bond Alexandra shared with Damon, he had done his best to be available to her and to take on the role as uncle to the child who's entire world had been turned upside down by the recent events in her life.

"She's resting."

"Is she okay after everything that happened?" Caroline asked.

It had only been a few hours since Alexandra had lost control over her cravings, and had ran ahead of her family and attacked and killed a man who had been walking around the area. The shock and devastation of her first human kill, had manifested itself into renewed grief for Damon, and a desperate longing to see the father who she thought understood her the best.

"I think she's a little better. The shock is still there, but mostly she's just anxious for Luke to do the spell and see if it works or not."

Stefan nodded, wiping his hands on a towel. "Yeah, well, hopefully he'll be the key to solving what happened."

"I hope so. She really misses him," Elena said, shaking her head in disbelief at the situation she had been thrust into. "_I_ really miss him."

"I know," Caroline said, her tone softening in just the slightest as she looked at her best friend. "We'll get them back."

"I know."

Living on the promise of a "maybe" wasn't the ideal way to live, but Elena knew that she had little choice in the matter as she distracted herself with the plate of food Stefan set down in front of her. Once upon a time, he had cooked for her like this when she had first brought him there, and the food tasted just as good the second time around.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome," Stefan said. "Figured I'd give you a night off from worrying about what everyone was going to feed themselves with."

"I appreciate it."

* * *

It was hard for Alexandra to fall asleep when her mind and body were distracted by a thousand different things. In her room, the one she had chosen when they first arrived at the lake house, she tossed and turned on her bed, trying to fight the right position that would enable her to fall asleep and stay that way.

The day had started off bad and had ended worse with her first human kill. The feeling of the warm blood as it soothed down her throat had been indescribable to her, and it was clean blood. There was a difference between clean and dirty blood, and this was clean, probably someone who hadn't had a drink that day, or was just starting off the morning fresh.

While she had killed him, ignoring his struggles as though they meant nothing to her superior strength, she reveled in the power of it, the simple power of controlling something bigger than her. When all was said and done, though, the guilt she had suffered from, had been overwhelming to her.

As a regular human child, she had always been the one to cheer everyone up, to be that shoulder to cry on for her friends, and now that the tables were turned and she was the one who needed comforting, it was nearly impossible to reconcile in her mind that she had been the one to kill someone, that she had let her cravings get the best of her.

And Damon.

She missed her Dad more than anything. He had been the one to feed her the blood that had completed her transition, ensuring that she wouldn't have to go through unnecessary pain with murdering an innocent human. Now that he was gone and she had lost that crucial support, she was lost.

He was the one who had managed to put a lid on her urges while they were in the clothing store, and now that he was gone from her life right at such an emotional turning point for her, it was hard to deal with that, and the fact of who she was now.

Finally finding a somewhat comfortable position, she allowed her eyes to close as she cuddled into her pillow and blanket, trying to let her thoughts drift to someplace peaceful, someplace that was free of the hurt and pain she suffered from in the waking world.

Somewhere along the way, she shifted from semi-consciousness to full unconsciousness. Instead of the feeling of being trapped in darkness while she waited to fall asleep, she was staring at the campgrounds her family had taken their last vacation together in. It had been their favorite place to go, and only a few days before their deaths, they had gone there one last time.

Walking around the open space, she paused at a small clearing in the center of the woods, one that was man-made from the trees being pushed aside to make room for the tourists and campers that came through. This was the spot that had been home to so many cookouts and laughter. It was her old life, one that she missed almost as much as she missed Damon.

"I was wondering when you were going to show up."

Alexandra turned so sharply at the sound of that familiar voice, that her neck cracked as she spun around to face the intruder on her dreams, the owner of that voice she would do anything to see in the waking world just one more time.

"D—Dad?"

It had been just over five days since she last saw Damon back in the apartment, before they had been forced apart when he went to sacrifice himself for the greater good, even though she had no warning of what he had been about to do when he hugged her goodbye, with his usual smirk and strut.

"In the flesh, kiddo," he announced, with his trademark swagger and smirk firmly planted right on his face as he walked closer to her, clearly sensing that she was frozen solid with the disbelief of what she witnessing, and he was right.

"H—how a—are you-?"

"Here?" he guessed. He was answered with her simple nod, as though she was beyond words. "It's a neat little trick that vampires can do. We can manipulate dreams."

"How?" she wondered, wondering if this was something she could pick up for future use.

"There's a lot that goes into it," he explained softly. "How are you doing?"

There was so much she wanted to confide in him with, and so little time. Numbly crossing the short distance that separated them, she sat herself in his lap when he opened his arms to receive her.

"Not great," she admitted, as she toyed with his lapis lazuli ring. "Did you know that I-"

That she killed someone? That she tore some man's neck open because she couldn't put a lid on her new urges?

"That you hurt someone?" he prompted, as he rubbed his hand down her arm. "I know. I was there."

"You _were_?" she asked incredulously as she twisted around in his lap to look into his face. "How?"

"I've been there with you," he said, his voice tight. "As much as I can be. It's different where I am, but I try to be there as much as I can."

"But how if-"

"You can't see me?" he asked gently. Another nod in answer. "You can't see ghosts anymore on the other plane. Only Jeremy and Bonnie could, but now that the Other Side is closed down for business, it put a kink in the plan."

Alexandra shook her head. "I can't believe that you're gone. Why did it have to be _you_? Why couldn't it have been some jerk that no one cared about?"

It was unfair to her that Damon would be the one to suffer from the mistake Luke had made. It didn't seem right to her that, out of a moral obligation to protect his sister and let innocent people die, he had doomed her father and Bonnie to spend an eternity alone.

"It's one of those things," he said, shaking his head. "I know that I never meant for any of that to happen. The plan was to get there and get back as fast as possible, but other stuff got in the way."

"I need you," she said, feeling some of the same tears course down her cheeks at the simple truth of that statement. "You can't—I can't..."

"Hey," Damon said softly, as he turned her around, using his thumb to wipe the incoming tears from her face. "I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to be coming back, for _good_."

"How?"

"Through the psychotic blond," Damon said. "A real pain in the ass, I know."

"Which psychotic blond?" Alexandra countered dryly.

"Good point."

This was good—this was the kind of interaction she had been hoping for since the second her mom had informed her of Damon's fate, and though she knew that the illusion would soon end and she would be waking up again, she wanted to hold on to the dream for as long as she could.

"So is all this real, then?"

"What? This dream?"

"Yeah."

"It is."

"So we're really talking, then?"

"We are," Damon confirmed with a small smile. "It takes a lot of...mental energy to focus enough on this plane to do it, but I wanted to see you and let you know that everything is going to be okay."

Alexandra nodded, trying to find the complete honesty in his statement, but couldn't. "What if something goes wrong?"

"You mean like it did when I didn't come back?"

"Yeah. What if that weird spell goes haywire on us?"

"It won't," Damon said, shaking his head. "Hey, look at me," he urged, when he saw his daughter shake her head, as though denying that things would work out. "I _promise_ you I will come back."

"Don't...don't make promises you can't keep, Dad."

"I'm not committing to a half-truth. I'm promising you this right now, that I will make it back to you and your Mom."

Alexandra nodded, trying to shove aside as much of the artificial fear as she could in order to enjoy the time that she was being granted with him. "Do you remember telling me that you would teach me all the perks of speed?" she asked, standing up.

"You mean with the crazy vamp speed?" he clarified, also standing up. "Yeah, I think I remember something about that," he said, tapping his chin thoughtfully.

"I mean, the only time I got to experience it was when I killed that guy," she said, her lips turning upward into a pout. "But it can be fun, right? The speed?"

"Absolutely. Do you want me to show you?"

"Yeah. Do you want to play tag?"

"A super-sized version of it?"

"Yes."

"Okay," Damon said with a sigh, as he pretended to stretch. "But you're going to lose, I hope you're prepared for that."

"Oh, you mean, with your old man bones?"

"Ouch," Damon said, giving her a playful nudge. "That hurt."

"Suck it up," she said, throwing a glance over her shoulder to show she was kidding. "You ready?"

"You bet."

Without warning, she took off with as much speed as she could possibly muster in her legs. The rush of adrenaline felt wonderful in her body as she focused on looking straight ahead instead of behind her, where she knew he would be coming up soon.

In no surprise to her, Damon managed to catch her in a matter of seconds as he picked her up off the ground, tickling her sides as they collapsed to the ground.

"You _caught_ me," she said, giving him a harsh shove.

"I did," he said, smiling like he had accomplished gold.

"Do you have to go soon?" she asked, a part of her sensing that their time together had come to an end, and she dreaded it with every fiber in her being.

"I think so," he said, as he pulled her into a tight hug.

"I don't want you to go, though."

"I don't either," he said, laughing once. "But I think I have to until we figure out the mumbo jumbo related to that spell."

It was so rare that she heard Damon laugh. It was only when he was especially carefree and relaxed, or when he was trying to put on a brave face like this time.

"Can you—can you give me a good dream?" she asked, biting her bottom lip uncertainly. "For when you leave, I mean."

Ever since he died, her subconscious had been a minefield of horrific images she would have paid anything to forget. It wasn't often she was able to escape from its cruel clutches, and that was what she wanted to avoid now.

"What's the matter?" he asked gently. "Bad dreams?"

Alexandra nodded. "Can you-" she swallowed back roughly. "Can you give me a good dream?"

"What do you want to dream, angel?" he asked softly.

"Our family," she said as a single tear slid down her face. "When we're happy and not so miserable."

"You got it," he said, as his hand pushed some of her hair behind her ear. "You'll dream of pillow fights, and the time I made bad coffee that made your Mom barf, and all the times where we were awesome."

"Okay," she said, choking back a sob. "I don't want this to end."

"I don't, either, but we'll have an eternity to be together once this is all over."

Alexandra didn't comment, didn't voice the fear she had of the spell not working because she couldn't imagine a life that didn't have her entire family in it, and a family without Damon in it, was unacceptable to her.

"I love you, daddy."

"I love you too, princess."

When the little girl awoke, this time she did it with a smile, instead of the usual tears that accompanied the simple action of waking up, because she knew this time she would have a guardian angel watching over her and making sure her future dreams were filled with nothing but bliss.

She was definitely glad she had fallen asleep this time.


	21. Chapter 21

Alexandra almost dreaded it when her body returned to full awareness, soon after the dream ended and Damon said goodbye to her. Instead of feeling the usual wave of sadness and loss that accompanied the simple action of waking up, she felt a strange sense of peace conflict with the grief she felt, knowing that she would have her own guardian angel to watch over her dreams, and make sure they were filled with nothing but bliss.

It was a gift she had not ever expected to receive, and had. Being transported to the campgrounds where she and her family had spent their last few days together, and then being gifted with the chance to see Damon, her father, and get the opportunity to spend time with him like she had before everything went to hell, had been something that had been as unexpected as it had been beautiful.

The only thing she regretted, was that she had to wake up now and face reality again. Even though Damon had harbored no doubts that the spell would work, and he and Bonnie would be among them again, it was hard to share in his enthusiasm when every single bad thing that could happen to someone, had happened to _them_.

She wanted to believe in a happy ending, she wanted to believe that Luke would be able to fix the wrong he had done against them, but it was difficult to share in the excitement when too much had happened recently to make her feel completely content in just the promise alone.

Sighing deeply as she rolled over on her side, trying to rid her brain of the chaotic images it was projecting on her, she strained her sensitive ears as they traveled all the way out into the living room/kitchen area where she could hear the distinctive sounds of her mother's voice, her uncle's and Caroline's all mixed in together to create a complicated soundtrack.

It was hard to distinguish what the other was saying, and though she knew that there were still many aspects of the life that she didn't yet understand, it was still unnerving to be able to hear things with perfect clarity, especially things that were supposed to be private.

Sitting up in bed, she sighed deeply, trying to wipe away the last remains of her tiredness as her bare feet slapped against the cool hardwood flooring as she wrenched open the door, and ventured down the private hallway, and down into the open living room/kitchen floor plan.

Her mother was seated at the kitchen counter along with Stefan and Caroline. They were deep in discussion about something related to the spell and the timing of it. That was one thing that never made sense to her, why they had to wait for the correct position of the moon. It shouldn't matter as long as the witches had all the elements they needed in order to make it effective.

Clearing her throat softly to announce her presence, she was rewarded when her mother turned to her, a smile coming across her face as she beckoned her over to her. Alexandra instantly obliged as she seated herself next to her, allowing Elena to run her hand through her hair softly, looking for any tangles or snarls that needed attention.

It was such a comforting gesture because that was something her biological mother used to do before she died, and now that Elena was repeating the same movements with her now, it brought a strange sense of peace to her being as she settled into the embrace.

"How did you sleep?" Elena asked, her voice soft as she focused on her child.

"Okay," Alexandra replied. "Better than okay, actually."

Her time with Damon had been the highlight of her entire day, and the fact that he had chosen to come to her and let her know that everything would be okay, seemed so personal and private to her. She knew that her mother would want to know that he was alright, especially after missing him so much, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to let her family in on that moment she shared with him.

"Did you have a good dream?" Stefan asked softly, as he looked down at the food he was making. It seemed that being in the kitchen comforted him, much like it did her being around her family.

"It wasn't too bad."

"Good," Caroline said, "because if there's _anything_ I've learned, it's that your head has this annoying habit of storing up bad crap and then putting it on display later on."

"Yeah," Alexandra agreed with a nod. "My head was like that."

Of course this dream was a wonderful one, but it didn't stop her mind from projecting images other times that were less than savory. It wasn't easy being someone who had been turned into an immortal being at only ten, and then having to deal with the fallout of it.

"Is it better now?" Elena asked softly.

"Yeah," the little girl said. "It's better now."

"Good."

"When are Liv and Luke supposed to do the spell?" Alexandra asked, not able to keep the note of impatience out of her tone as she looked imploringly at her mother and other family. It was hard to sit idly by and wait while her Dad and Bonnie were stuck in that horrific dimension.

"It has to do with timing," Elena explained. "The full moon has to be used on the third week of the month, and that's still another week and a half away."

Elena understood—she understood how hard it was for her daughter to wait for her Dad to come back, and she understood the desperation she was experiencing, especially with the bond they had with each other.

"I wonder why the witches have to rely on dorky things like that," Alexandra mused aloud as she gratefully accepted the plate of food Stefan held out for her. "Why the earth and the moon is so important to them."

"It's part of their bloodline," Stefan explained carefully, knowing he was treading on dangerous ground. "They have a connection to the earth because that's where they believe their magic originates from, and though it doesn't make it any easier on us, their powers are stronger because of it."

"It still sucks," Alexandra said, shaking her head as she reached for her glass of blood, making a face as she forced herself to choke down the disgusting liquid. "The longer they wait, the more chance there is of something happening."

"Liv and Luke know what they're doing," Caroline pointed out.

"I know."

Chewing down on her bottom lip, she twisted her hands around each other as she thought of the option she had of confiding in her family about the dream she had of Damon. Even though she considered Stefan and Caroline her family, it wasn't like the bond she shared with Elena, and though she wanted to share with them what she had seen, she knew this would have to be a conversation she shared with her mother.

"What's wrong?" Elena asked, catching the look of indecision that crossed over her face.

"Nothing," she replied quickly, "but can you and I go outside and talk?"

Elena nodded, giving her a tight smile as she leaned over and kissed her cheek. "Absolutely."

Walking outdoors into the fresh, crisp air, Alexandra tried to keep her emotions in check as they walked into the same shaded woods that she had killed the poor man in. Taking a deep breath, she tried to push back on her cravings the best she could. Luckily for her, there wasn't any sign of fresh human blood around, saving her the arduous process of keeping herself in check.

Stopping a good distance from the house, she tried to gather her thoughts enough so that she would be able to string together a coherent sentence that would do justice to the amazing time she had shared with Damon, and the promise he had given her, and the fact that he would be guarding her dreams from any future pain.

"No one can hear us...at the house, right?" Alexandra asked.

Even though they walked a good distance from the lake house, she wasn't quite sure yet how good the hearing of vampires was, and if her family would be able to catch any snippets of their talk together.

"No," Elena said, shaking her head. "That would be more Caroline's style, but she won't be listening."

"Are you sure?" Alexandra asked, tilting her eyebrow up in question.

"I am positive," Elena affirmed. "So tell me what's on your mind."

"I had a dream last night," Alexandra began, a small smile playing across the edges of her lips. "A good one."

That was the understatement of the entire year as far as she was concerned, but it was the only description that even came close to describing how much it meant to her to see Damon, even though their reunion couldn't be permanent, at least not yet.

"Tell me about it," Elena encouraged.

"I saw Dad."

It was clear, the effect her words had on her mother. She could see Elena inhale a deep breath, as though she was afraid of saying or doing the wrong thing, and Alexandra couldn't blame her for that. She had lost her father, but Elena had lost her boyfriend/future husband. Tearing her eyes away from the sight of her mother's eyes filling with the dreaded moisture, she waited for her to say something.

"What do you mean you..._saw_ him?"

There could be a million ways she saw him, she knew, but she thought it would be important for Elena to recognize the distinction she was trying to make, as painful as it would be for her to hear, she also hoped that it would serve to give her some kind of hope.

"He gave me the dream. It was—it was at this campground I used to go to, and he was there with me."

"He controlled the dream?" Elena asked, surprise filtering across her expression as she looked at her daughter.

Alexandra nodded. "Right. We talked, and we had fun together. It was like old times," she finished with a shrug, though it lost its effect when her eyes filled with tears. "He said that everything was going to be okay."

"How could he control the dream?" Elena wondered, almost speaking to herself as she tried to contemplate the idea of Damon being powerful enough to still manipulate dreams, even in death.

"He said it took a lot more concentration, but he was able to do it. Are you glad that I told you?"

"I'm very glad," Elena said, erasing any earlier doubts Alexandra had been harboring as she took her in her arms. "And in a week and a half, we'll have Dad and Bonnie back with us."

"Yeah, I know."

* * *

Being able to concentrate enough of his mental energy on visiting Alexandra and crafting a dream out of something that was once a good memory for her, had been one of the highlights of Damon's existence on this other, strange plane as he walked back to where Bonnie was. The dream manipulation had required more effort, but the payoff had been well worth it for him.

"Where were you?" Bonnie asked.

"I was giving my daughter the best night of her life," Damon said, turning away from her to disguise the sharp edge to his voice, as though he was afraid of showing weakness in front of her.

"How...did you do...that?" Bonnie asked slowly, skeptically, as though she was afraid of him violating the rules, or doing something that would bring about further consequences for them.

"It's a little whoo—whoo trick vampires can do," Damon said, rolling his eyes as though he could see the reaction burning behind her judgmental gaze. "We can insert ourselves into dreams if we want to."

"And so you put yourself in Alexandra's dream?"

"Better," Damon said, swinging his arms back and forth. "I gave her a peaceful one. She was happy, we both were."

"I'm glad," Bonnie said, not knowing what else to say to something that was so obviously private.

"She has her doubts that the spell will work, but I told her it would be fine, because if it's not, my ghost self is going to come back and rip Luke's tongue out."

It was unnerving to Damon that he had no choice but to rely on a warlock who had already proven to be flighty when it concerned helping the vampires. It did not matter to him, not really, that he had chosen to protect his sister instead of keeping his word, all that mattered to him was that it would be reversed.

"Stop," Bonnie said softly, shaking her head. "He'll figure it out."

"And if he doesn't?"

Bonnie didn't answer, clearly thinking through the implications of his words. "I was thinking about something while you were...gone."

"Hopefully a way to bully Emily Bennett and her slave of freaks into giving you your witchy mojo back," Damon said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"No," Bonnie said, leveling her gaze on him. "I was thinking about the conversation my Grams and I had before all this happened."

"Did Witch Senior drop a few hints?" Damon asked, watching as the young witch bent down to inspect a piece of earth under their feet.

"She said something about making sure I was protected," Bonnie said thoughtfully, as she traced a few lines in the dirt.

"And...that translates to...what exactly?" Damon asked slowly, trying to follow along with her confusing train of thought.

"Maybe she was able to ensure my protection somehow, and maybe whatever she did to me, happened to you when I grabbed your hand. Maybe that's why we weren't sucked into-"

"Into the eternal vortex of terror like Katherine the slut?" Damon asked bluntly.

Even though he once had loved the manipulative vampire once upon a time, those feelings of sentimental love were long gone to be replaced with a healthy stream of hatred toward the person who had been responsible for turning him into a vampire, and creating a rift between he and Stefan.

"In a way, yes," Bonnie said. "Maybe whatever she did, if she did anything, was to protect us from being sucked away completely. Maybe that's the only way the spell will have an impact on us."

"I sure hope so," Damon said, as he put his palm flat against a tree trunk and leaned his weight against it. "It would suck if I had to break two promises."

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing."


	22. Chapter 22

It was hard for Elena to remain calm that morning as she compulsively swiped a rag across the counter surface for the fifth or sixth time that morning. Cleaning had always served her well in times of stress, and now that her head was about to explode from what was about to happen, cleaning was the last available vice she had to distract her from the upcoming events of the day. Spraying some more cleanser on the tabletop, she tried to avoid breathing in the toxic fumes like her mother had taught her.

Today, Luke and Liv would be coming over to discuss the finer aspects of the spell and what it would require from her. She wasn't nervous about seeing them again, she knew she could control her internal feelings toward them, but she was worried about Alexandra and how she would feel having the same warlock in the house who had been responsible for her father's death.

She was so distracted by her thoughts and her pointless cleaning project, that she almost missed it when a confident hand slid around her bicep, pulling her away from her task. Looking up, she saw that it was Stefan, clearly wondering what she was doing, when she had always expressed her displeasure for cleaning, except of course in a crisis when her mind needed the monotony of the task.

"Hey," Stefan said quietly, calmly, much the way he used to talk to her when they were still dating and he was trying to get through to her. "What are you doing?"

"Trying to tidy up a little bit," she said, avoiding his concerned gaze as she moved around him to spray more cleaner on the table. "You know, before Liv and Luke get here."

And the meeting either went very well with them discussing the different complexities to the spell and how it would work, or it would be them coming to inform them that all bets were off and they couldn't help. Elena wanted to believe that it could still work, that the spell thought to be perfect for bringing back her boyfriend and best friend, would still be okay, but it was hard to retain that Gilbert optimism when so much bad had happened.

"You _hate_ cleaning," Stefan pointed out, stating the obvious.

"Yeah, well, I need a distraction."

"From today, you mean."

"Yes," she admitted quietly, pausing in her actions to brush her hair from her face. "What if they come to tell us they can't help anymore? What if their sense of self-preservation is stronger than their moral obligation to help us?"

Elena was blind or stupid—she knew how important it was to protect oneself from harm—but she was hoping that the witches would stick to their word and help her get Damon back for she and Alexandra, and not to mention his brother.

"That won't happen," Stefan assured her. "Luke knows the bind he put himself into. He won't take a chance of something going wrong for he _or_ his sister."

"I know, but this spell is only supposed to be for witches. If his coven finds out that he used it to help a vampire, he might get cold feet."

"Or he'll do what's right," Stefan reminded her.

"I know," Elena said. "I'm also worried about Alexandra. She knows that he did this, and now we're inviting them into the house? With her inside of it?"

As a newly turned vampire, Alexandra's emotions were highly susceptible to erratic change, and that was never more apparent than when a new threat presented themselves to her family. In her mind, Luke was the enemy because he had made it possible for Damon to be stuck on the Other Side when it fell apart, and now that he was waltzing into their midst, Elena could only imagine how she would react to that, even with the promise of Damon returning to them.

"She'll be okay," Stefan assured her. "She'll be out with Caroline hunting. She's going to teach her some more techniques on how to control her urges."

"Yeah, if anyone would be able to teach her the finer aspects of how not to screw up, it would be Caroline," Elena said with a small laugh.

Her blond friend had continued to surprise her with how naturally she had adopted to life as a vampire, and though she knew that Caroline was the surprising exception, she hoped that she would be able to impress some things upon her daughter that she was unable to just yet.

"She's been pretty amazing," Stefan agreed. "Vampirism seemed to take away most of her previous insecurities and replaced it with a new-found confidence."

"Yeah, I mean, she went from being one of those girls who chased after guys and didn't seem to get the clue, to finding guys that really felt something for her." She wouldn't mention the mess Klaus had left behind in her heart, and she wouldn't mention that the messy breakup she and Tyler had experienced, even though it went unsaid.

"Except for Klaus and Tyler," Stefan pointed out, as though he had read her mind.

"Right," Elena agreed quietly.

She was distracted from answering further when the doorbell rang, sending an involuntary shudder up her spine as Stefan saved her the trouble of answering it. The twins' voices floated in through the spacious house as she distracted herself for a few more pointless minutes, before resigning herself to fate and walking back out into the living room.

Liv and Luke had seated themselves on the love seat in the corner of the room. Their postures screaming their nervousness as they locked eyes with Elena as she sat a good distance from them. It was hard to know what to say to the people who had been responsible for Damon's death, but would also be the ones to bring him back.

"So," Elena said, clasping her hands in front of her as she stretched them around her knees. "You said that you could do the spell that would bring Damon and Bonnie back."

"Yes," Luke said, sighing deeply. "It's an ancient spell that is supposed to combine the essential elements of the earth to bring about resurrection to those deserving of it."

"And by that, he means people who have died unfairly," Liv put in.

"And you can do this next week?" Stefan prompted.

"Yes," Luke said. "We have most of the ingredients we need, but the spell also requires some personal artifacts from you."

"Like what?" Elena asked, exchanging glances with Stefan.

"Something from the heart," Liv explained. "Something that means something special to you that was a gift from Damon or Bonnie. It could be anything, even something stupid, but something that means a lot to you."

Elena nodded, sucking back a deep breath as she tried to contemplate something that meant a lot to her that had come from her best friend and boyfriend. She and Damon had never been the couple to buy overly romantic gifts for each other, their love and devotion had been enough, but there had been one gift he had given her recently that had far eclipsed anything she had ever gotten before in her life.

"There is something," Elena whispered, hating herself when she could feel more tears creep into the corners of her eyes. "Something that he gave to me before he...before he died."

"Do you have it?" Luke asked softly, perhaps sensing what a delicate issue it was for her.

"Yes," Elena said, pushing herself to her feet as she walked around the back of the couch and down the hallway to her bedroom, where she had placed the gift so that no harm would ever come to it.

Taking the ring out of its carefully concealed box, she hesitated for only the briefest of seconds before walking back out to the living room. It was clear that Stefan held no interest in conversing with them, from the way he held his posture, and Elena couldn't blame him for his reticence.

"This," Elena said, swallowing back a soft cry, as she handed over the ring. "It was—Damon gave it to me after we found our daughter. The center ring is my birthstone, the left ring is his, and the other one is Alexandra's."

Damon had given it to her right before he had gone off and died in the explosion. The ring was so simple but so beautiful in the subtle detail he had put in it. The birthstones were unique in their majesty, but it was the symbolism behind the design that meant the most to her.

The symbolism of a new family, a new start to their life that they hadn't ever anticipated. During the long nights when she would inevitably mourn his absence, she would clutch the ring close to her heart for peace of mind, and to hold on to the promise that he would make it back to her.

Giving it over to the witches so they could hold more power in creating the spell, was the last thing she felt like doing, but it was the only choice she had.

"We'll—we'll take good care of it," Luke promised her, sensing how precious the ring was to her.

"And I can get it back?" Elena asked.

"Yes."

* * *

Elena was glad when they finally left. It had been difficult to force herself to sit with the man who had stopped his sister from doing the spell that would have brought Damon back without a problem. Giving them the ring Damon had gifted her with, had also been hard, not just because she was entrusting it to witches who had already betrayed her, but because it was such a personal and meaningful object she had been given.

Forcing a smile on her face when Alexandra walked through the door with Caroline, she tried to put the meeting out of her mind as she listened to Alexandra chatter animatedly about her hunting adventure with the bubbly blond.

"How did you do?" Elena asked.

"I did okay," Alexandra supplied, clearly not ready to fill her mother in on everything she had experienced during the hunt.

"She did more than okay," Caroline said, giving Alexandra a teasing shove. "She managed to follow all the rules I gave her, and she killed a deer."

"Good for you," Elena said, pulling her child close.

"I didn't like doing it," Alexandra mumbled, bunching her body up until she resembled nothing more than an oversized ball. "I wanted to save it, but I drained too much."

"That happened with me," Elena said, attempting to soothe her as she rubbed her back. "The good thing is, you didn't end up hurting someone."

"Like a human?"

"Exactly," Elena encouraged. "We talked with Liv and Luke today."

"Really?" Alexandra said, untwisting her body from its previous position. "What—what did they say?"

"They said that they could do the spell on time, and they had me give them something that would enhance the power of the spell."

"What kind of 'something'?"

"That ring that Daddy gave me after we found you."

The ring had meant something to Alexandra too, she had been there when Damon had given it to Elena, and Elena could see the indecision clearly warring on the inside as she contemplated the ring being handed to the wrong sort of people.

"Why did they need that?" the little girl asked uncertainly.

"They needed something from the heart, something that meant something more than just an artificial gift."

"Oh."

It was clear she was still troubled by it, but not wanting to say anything more, because at the end of the day, the ring Elena had given to Luke and Liv, would serve them in getting Damon back and Bonnie back.


	23. Chapter 23

Today was going to be a good day. Elena was sure of that simple revelation and it filled her entire being with an unbridled sense of hope as her exhausted body finally realized that it wouldn't be falling back asleep anytime soon, and to give up on the fruits of its labor as she turned over on her side to where her daughter was sound asleep.

Even though Alexandra had her own bedroom stationed directly next to Elena's, the little girl had taken to sleeping with her most nights, especially when her inbred fear sank in and she became afraid of the shadows in her room, convinced that it was something evil come to snatch her again, or when the branches snagged the windows, creating a bone-chilling sensation down her spine.

Elena didn't mind having the company in her room, and actually welcomed the presence Alexandra brought to her as her hand moved freely down her little girl's back, stopping at the midway point where she knew she enjoyed being rubbed the most. It was a soothing motion Elena tried to induce in her daughter whenever she knew she was having problems.

The night before had all been about her inability to fall asleep, much like her mother, and Elena fully understood it as she stood up tiredly from the bed. Her feet coming into contact with the dusty hardwood floor as she traipsed over to her closet to retrieve some clothing that would look presentable, and not like she had just run a full marathon.

Looking back at the bed, she saw that Alexandra was in the very early stages of beginning to transition from the blissful world of sleep, to the more chaotic world of consciousness. Sleep had provided an escape for Elena on the worst of days, the days where she could hardly find it within herself to put one foot in front of the other, and the same could now be said, regrettably, for her daughter who had been privy to the most urgent sense of grief and mourning that one could possibly imagine, and had experienced most of that herself.

Today would be the day Liv and Luke would attempt the spell that would bring Damon and Bonnie back to them. The spell had been nearly a week in the making because of the infuriating dependance on making sure the phases of the moon were correct, and now that everything was lined up the way it was supposed to, she could not help but allow a little bit of eagerness to shine through in her peppy steps as she finished getting dressed.

It had been the longest two weeks—nearly three—of her life; and now that it was about to end, she was not sure what to do with herself the rest of the day until night fell and they were able to make their way to the mausoleum where the spell would be performed when the moon reached its full apex in the night sky.

A slight change in the way the air moved, was the only warning she had that her daughter was up and out of bed and choosing to make her presence known by using her vampire speed to appear right behind her. It was a trick she used to scare her parents, but over time, they had grown used to her teasing and tricks, and now viewed it with amusement.

"Morning, baby," Elena said, smiling down at her daughter and knowing that, for the first time in weeks, the smile wouldn't be forced out of a part of her that was still grieving, but still wanting to put on a front for her child .

This time, the smile was one hundred percent genuine.

"Hi," Alexandra said, as she moved around the room to gather some of her toys and things she had brought in with her when she came to sleep. "Why do you look so happy?"

It was rare that any of the people in their family felt happy. With the Other Side falling apart and their loved ones being trapped in that terrible dimension, there had not been a lot of cheers and laughter to go around, but now that the spell was finally ready to be performed, it was a cause of celebration in Elena's heart.

"Because today Liv and Luke are going to perform the spell that will bring Dad and Bonnie back."

Seeing the spell completed, had been the only topic of discussion that interested Alexandra. The dream Damon gave her, had helped her tremendously in overcoming some of the nasty after—effects of losing him so suddenly, but she wanted him to be alive in the present time, and not existing in some dream world he had cooked up for her.

"They _are_?" she demanded, and Elena didn't miss the way her face stretched into an ecstatic grin as she threw her arms around her mother in complete joy.

"They are," Elena confirmed, holding her child close. "Tonight."

"And this will be the spell that will fix everything?" she prompted, as she followed Elena out of the bedroom and down the hall and into the living room/kitchen area where Stefan and Caroline and Ric were already up.

"Hopefully," Elena said, as she eased herself into the closest chair, the smell of brewing coffee drawing her closer. "There shouldn't be any problems on their end."

"I hope not," Alexandra said with a slight pout. "It's been too long."

"I know it has," Elena said, smiling gratefully when Ric passed her a cup and some cream and sugar. "Thanks."

"No problem," Ric said. "I talked to Jeremy this morning."

"How is he?"

Her brother had chosen to return to Mystic Falls to investigate, with Matt, the anti-magic spell that was still in effect, prohibiting them from returning to their hometown.

"He's good. He and Matt are still on the search, but they're going to stop by here later tonight."

"Okay, good."

"Are you excited about tonight?" Stefan asked, as he buttered some toast. The simplicity of the movement, reminding her of what her family used to be like before all the vampires and craziness had overtaken it.

"Yeah," Elena said, as she poured some blood into a cup for her daughter. "I mean, I try not to get my hopes up too quickly, but I can't help feel overwhelmed that I'm going to be seeing him again, that Alexandra will have her Dad back finally, and I'll have my best friend back."

Elena craved finally being able to be back in the security and comfort of Damon's unyielding embrace as much as she had ever craved or wanted anything, but she also wanted Alexandra to have her dad back, and to be able to be the family that had cruelly been taken from her when the spell had gone awry.

"How long will the spell take?" Ric asked, studying the group before him intently.

"I don't know yet," Elena said, shaking her head, as she clasped her hands in front of her face. "What matters to me is putting an end to this nightmare."

"Does it have to be done _at_ midnight?" Caroline asked, as she finally gave up on trying to control the stove and left the dirty work to Stefan.

"It has to do with the phasing of the moon," Stefan explained. "When the moon reaches its fullness, they'll be ready to do the spell."

"There's still some things they need," Elena said, as she mentally calculated in her head what she had learned from the witches. "But it won't be needed until they're ready to do the spell."

"What kind of things?" Alexandra asked, as she finally choked down the rest of the blood from the cup she had been handed.

"They didn't say exactly. They just said they have most of the essential ingredients, but they still need something more from us when the time comes. Did you finish all of your blood?" She asked, looking down into the last remaining dregs that were still swirling at the bottom.

"Yeah," Alexandra said distastefully, her mind still clearly not in agreement with what her body was craving. That was one aspect of her new life that she had flat-out rejected.

"Good girl."

Damon had been the only one who had been able to get through to her when it came to finishing the blood and putting a lid on her out-of-control urges. It was something that Alexandra listened to him about and bonded with him over, and one of the reasons Elena was so anxious to get him back for.

* * *

The rest of the day was nerve-wracking for Elena. She could not resist looking at the clock every single time she passed by it, anticipating the time where she and Stefan would leave to go meet Liv and Luke at the designated time, and start the finer points of the spell that would succeed in bringing back the love of her life, and her best friend.

When the sun started dipping back below the horizon, she could feel her breath hitch in anticipation of what would be coming soon as she mentally started preparing a checklist in her brain of what she would need to take with her to the cemetery.

A blood bag was first and foremost on her mind as she packed one in her travel bag for Damon, and some comfort items that she knew Bonnie favored. Of course, they would have much more for them at the lake house, but it was the little comforts of home that she knew Damon would be needing at a time like that.

"You about ready?" Stefan asked quietly, walking into the bedroom she had been occupying solo except for her daughter.

"Yeah, I think so," Elena said, as she shrugged on the coat she would be wearing to the cemetery to meet the people who would be in charge of helping them.

"Are you nervous?" Stefan asked quietly, sensing the tension that was radiating off the woman that he still loved regardless of her choice, regardless of whether or not his brother had been the chosen one for her.

"I'm only nervous about the spell _not_ working."

"It will, Elena. It's the only resurrection spell that the witches know how to use that will work."

"But it only works for _witches_," Elena pointed out.

"So far, but it works for deserving souls who didn't deserve the fate they were handed."

"I know," Elena said, nodding in agreement, knowing that was the only protection she had against the nerves that were trying to torment her by telling her that the spell would not go according to plan.

Alexandra was not keen on her mother leaving, but she also knew that it was for a good cause, and that when she saw her again, her father would be accompanying them, hopefully. Leaning down to hug her, Elena tried to control the emotional part of her that wanted to run and hide from the pain of something going wrong, and having to tell her daughter some more bad news for the second time in her life.

"I love you," Elena said softly, as she hugged her close.

"I love you too, Mom," Alexandra said. "When you come home, Dad will be with you, right? And Bonnie?"

Elena nodded, not allowing her daughter to see the doubt that permeated her expression as she stood back up. "That's right."

Forcing herself to turn away from her daughter, she turned with Stefan and walked out the door into the pleasantly warm evening night. Stefan's car was parked right out front, and would be the vessel that carried them to their destination.

Sliding into the warmed seats, she barely stirred when Stefan got in beside her and started the car for the short drive to the cemetery. It would not be long before they either got the best surprise of their lives, or they got the worst news possible. Either way, Elena tried to prepare her mind for either possibility and could not.

How could one prepare oneself for the possibility of something going horribly wrong with the spell? How could one prepare herself for the fact that she may never see the love of her life again? And the father of the daughter they both adopted?

Swallowing back the roll of nausea that she could feel warring in her system, she tried to relax the grip she had on the door handle as Stefan smoothly turned into the secluded cemetery that would serve as the backdrop for the spell that would occur that evening.

Getting out in sync with each other, Stefan and Elena moved discreetly down the row of headstones toward the lit mausoleum at the end of the long row of graves. Ignoring the shudder that passed through her spine that was a result of excitement just as much as it was nerves, she passed Stefan a look of complete fear before throwing open the doors.

Liv and Luke stood in the center of the room. The ingredients they had collected from their own archives were on display in front of them. Swallowing back the lump in the back of her throat, she marched confidently ahead of Stefan to meet them. The anger she felt at their betrayal, was diminished slightly when she was reminded of the lengths they were going to to save their loved ones.

"Do you have everything you need?" Stefan asked, sparing a glance at the belongings the witches had brought with them.

"Yes," Liv said, "but we still need something else from the two of you."

"What?" Elena asked, ready to do absolutely anything if it meant getting Damon and Bonnie back.

"Blood," Luke said, stepping foreword with a silver dagger in his hand. "It makes the connection stronger when you're calling someone that's not necessarily meant for the spell, like a vampire."

"Okay, but why do you need the blood?" Elena asked, trying to reconcile that in her mind.

"It makes the connection stronger. The blood is connected to your heart, and the driving force behind the spell is the love connection that extends to you and his brother. It can be done without the blood," Luke admitted, "but it makes it more reliable."

"Okay, fine," Elena said, thrusting her arm out in front of Luke, barely wincing when she felt the smooth edge of the blade scrape her arm, before she felt the rush of blood as it dripped on the point Luke directed it.

Next Stefan stood in her place as he followed the same procedure that Elena had previously. When Elena looked at him, she saw nothing but the utmost determination to bring his brother back, and while she knew that Stefan and Damon loved each other, it felt good to see more visual confirmation of the bond that had been destroyed by Katherine's appearance.

"Now," Liv said, "we will call on the purest parts of the earth and your love, to bring about a healing element that will serve to enact the parts of him that died."

"What about Bonnie?" Elena asked, noticing that her friend hadn't been brought into the conversation at all.

"Because she's a witch...or ex-witch, we won't need to go through all the extra precautions like we have to with Damon," Luke explained. "We were able to find his body in the wreckage in the Grille."

"You _were_?" Elena asked, looking behind Luke at the small cot behind him that stored Damon's charred body. In the time they had, the witches had obviously taken care to clean him up as much as possible, even though his body was still burned beyond recognition. Tears momentarily springing to her eyes at the sight of him in such a horrific position, she crossed behind the witches and Stefan to kneel down by his lifeless side, intent on being the first face he saw when he finally woke up.

"Yeah," Liv said. "With Bonnie, she'll simply appear in the place she died in."

"What about the burns?" Elena asked, running her finger gingerly over a particularly nasty burn on his arm. The only part of him that was recognizable to her, was his daylight ring that was still, somehow, intact.

"They'll melt away when the spell fully takes effect."

Elena nodded. "Okay."

Carefully sliding her hand through Damon's still one, she tried to remain strong as Liv sat down in the circle of ingredients and slowly started chanting the spell that would work in bringing him back from whatever plane he had been condemned to.

As Elena focused her attention on Damon's face as the spell continued, she saw, to her astonishment, some of the more gruesome burns started to melt away from the skin that it was coating. Instead of seeing nothing but black, charred skin, she saw white, beautiful skin as the burns crusted and eventually fell to a black heap on the ground next to them.

Sharing an exultant smile with Stefan, she watched as the rest of the burns fell away from his beautiful body in direct response to the spell that Liv continued to chant. Eventually, nothing remained but the same man that had left her so cruelly and devastatingly.

Running her fingers through his jet black hair, she kept her other hand entwined with his as she waited for the first signs of life from the vampire who had stolen and captured her heart in more ways than was even possible to count.

When his body gave a slight jerk in response to the life essence that was coursing through his system because of her love for him, she jumped back slightly, but didn't remove her grip from his hand as she swallowed back the roll of tears she could feel coming down her cheeks.

"D-Damon?" A grunt in response. "Damon, open your eyes," Elena instructed, feeling her voice choke with the combined emotion she was feeling at him coming back, and her own love for him.

Finally, she saw one of his blue eyes open. It stared manically around the room, before coming to rest on her, and then the other eye opened that instantly traveled down to his one hand that was still being grasped by Elena.

"E—Elena?" he coughed.

"Yeah," Elena said, giving a shaky laugh. "Yeah, it's me, Damon."

Groaning, he situated himself so that he was sitting up straighter. "Are we having a party here or something?" he cracked, looking at the candles and ingredients that littered the floor.

Elena only laughed as she pulled him closer, wrapping her arms around him as though her very existence depended on it, and it did in a way. The relief she felt was palpable as she finally released him from her hold, even though she regretted doing so as she watched him stand shakily under his own steam.

"Welcome back," Stefan said, as he stepped foreword and embraced him.

"Thanks, brother," Damon said, returning the hug.

"What about Bonnie?" Stefan asked, looking over at Liv and Luke.

"Her body should be brought back in the spot she died in," Liv assured them. "Right outside."

Stefan nodded, clearly having it set in his mind to go check on her. "Okay, thank you."

Elena watched Stefan leave, before turning back to her man. "I can't believe this is real."

"I can't believe I'm looking at you," Damon said, shaking his head in awe of that simple fact as his finger traced a line down the length of her face.

"I can't, either."

"It has to be only me, but it seems like you've grown more gorgeous in the two or three weeks since I last laid eyes on your pretty head," Damon said.

"It's probably your head," Elena said with a small laugh.

"Most likely. Where's our girl?"

"She's safe—she's with Caroline and Ric."

Damon nodded, obviously relieved. "Good. What about Ric? How has he adjusted to life as a living undead Original?"

"Much better than I thought."

"Well, I'll have to give him props for that," Damon said, stretching. "Figured the lunatic would feel guilty or something about the death and despair he caused in his rampaging, freak days."

"He still feels guilty," Elena affirmed. "It's like me with my compassion. His guilt is his stumbling block."

"Well, it's nothing a good shakedown won't cure."

"Damon-" Elena started, not quite sure if he was being serious or not.

"I'm kidding," he said, shaking his head. "Well, mostly."

"Damon!"

"I'm not going to hurt him, Elena. There's only so many times a man can die before it becomes a breaking news bulletin, and suffice it to say, I don't want to clean it up."

"That's mean," Elena said, before being distracted by the appearance of Stefan, and the other face that she had been anxious to see for so long. "Bonnie!" Elena hardly wasted a second before rushing to give her friend a tight hug.

"Elena, it's so good to see you," Bonnie breathed. "I thought that-"

"You thought wrong," Damon said.

"Shut up," Bonnie said under her breath. "I thought maybe my Grams had done something to ensure our protection. Maybe she did, maybe that's the reason why we're back."

"I don't care," Elena said, "all I care is that you both are here."

"Where you belong," Stefan said.


	24. Chapter 24

It was all real; his smirk, his swagger and the overly confident way in which he spoke to the witches who had been partially responsible for his death, and more than that, his touch was real as Elena was all too aware of as their group moved from the oppressive mausoleum, and back to their vehicles which were still stationed in the parking lot where they had been left an hour before, where no one had been certain if Damon and Bonnie could safely return or not.

Now that they had and the immediate threat was over, Elena felt like she could truly breathe for the first time since learning the horrific news that her boyfriend and best friend were dead. It felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders as she clutched his hand reassuringly, needing the physical confirmation of what her eyes had been telling her for the past hour as they slid into the backseat of Stefan's car.

Bonnie was riding with them since she had no other way back to the lake house where they would all take up residence. Smiling contently when the car moved into motion to take them back to where her brother and daughter were, she switched her position so that her head was leaning on the steady fortress of Damon's shoulder, as his hand came to rest on her hair, testing out all the nervous spots as he gradually worked to massage a calmness in her that only he could hope to achieve.

"Hmm," she said, murmuring in complete and utter peace as Damon's hand moved to travel from her head to the nape of her neck where he began massaging lines into the hard spots that had the most tension. "That feels good."

It felt good to experience his touch at all, but it felt absolutely blissful when he massaged her neck and the spots where she almost always ended up feeling the worst when the stresses of life got to be too much. She had been devoid of this peace for nearly three weeks and now that it was back, she almost wasn't sure what to do with herself.

"Does it?" he breathed against her ear. "It should because it feels like you've been storing up a string quarter of tension."

"Sorry," she said, "it's been kind of hard to remain loose and calm while the entire universe is falling apart at the seams."

"That is a _gross_ exaggeration," he contradicted teasingly. "Only half the town is falling apart."

"Damon!"

"I'm _joking_, Elena, well kind of."

Shaking her head in amusement, she settled back against the crook of his arm as he continued massaging her. It felt like such an intimate moment to broadcast in front of her friend and ex-boyfriend, but with Damon, she did not feel any of the personal restrictions she had imposed upon herself while she was with Stefan. With Damon, she felt proud of their relationship, and wanted the entire world to see that if possible.

"How does it feel to be-"

"A living undead vampire with control issues?"

"Yes," Elena said, rolling her eyes. "How does it feel to be a living undead vampire who is a wonderful boyfriend, and an even more wonderful father?"

"Well," Damon said, shrugging dramatically. "When you put it that way, life feels pretty good right now."

"I bet it does," she replied softly.

"How has Alexandra adjusted to all the change?" Damon asked after a moment of silence.

"She's been handling it okay. There have been snags along the way, but it's been okay."

"Me burning up in an explosion, probably didn't help anything," Damon said, nothing in his tone but resignation for the fact of how he had died and been forced away from his daughter.

"It wasn't your fault, not really," Elena said, forcing him away from the mindset that wanted to blame himself for the pain Alexandra had been in. "You did a great thing in helping save everyone from the Travelers."

"I know, I know. I got my hero hair all clipped on, and then my buzz had to be ruined when the stupid veil was put back down."

"I think your hero hair needs a little retirement," Stefan said from the driver's seat. "No more scaring the crap out of us for awhile, please."

"Aww, Stef, I honestly believe you're starting to care," Damon said, allowing a rare smile to light up his face.

"No, that's just me expressing my frustration," Stefan argued, but the lackluster tone of his voice convinced Elena and Damon otherwise.

"Whatever you say, brother," Damon said, shaking his head. "How much longer until we get to the lake house?"

"Not too much longer," Elena said, as she reached down to squeeze his knee. "Bonnie, you said something about your Grams doing something to protect you, could that protection have also extended to Damon, do you think?"

When Bonnie had first come back, she claimed that she thought it was something her deceased Grams had done to ensure her protection from being sucked into the vortex of oblivion that had plagued so many other unfortunate souls. Elena did not care how it had happened, but she was also morbidly curious, as well.

"I don't know," Bonnie said, shifting from her original position for the first time to look back at her friend. "All I know is that right before all this happened, she was talking in her usual cryptic nonsense, and I think she was implying that she had set something up to make sure I was covered."

"Knowing your Grams," Elena said, recalling all the other numerous time she had managed to come through for them in a snag, "that's exactly what happened."

"I don't know," Bonnie said. "I know that she managed to find peace on the Other Side."

"You mean before-"

"Before it went away," Bonnie confirmed. "I'm glad."

"Me too," Elena whispered.

At least one person on the Other Side could find peace before it was demolished. It made her nostalgic, thinking about her aunt Jenna, who had found peace soon after her death, according to Esther.

When the car Stefan was driving, pulled into the secluded driveway of the lake house, Elena automatically felt a smile spread across her face at the idea of walking into the home with Damon, and seeing Alexandra's reaction, especially since she had remained skeptical about the spell working.

"We're home," Damon said, stating the obvious as he pressed a kiss to her lips.

"We are," Elena confirmed as they slowly got out of the car.

The balmy weather felt refreshing on her skin as she and Damon, along with Stefan and Bonnie, made their way up the rickety porch steps and into the foyer that eventually branched off into the main part of the home.

In the other room, she could hear a series of voices float across to them from the kitchen, though it was anyone's guess as to which voice belonged to whom, especially with how in tandem they all were. Giving Damon a small smile, she clasped his hand as she led the way into the space they most often occupied as a family when they were there.

Alexandra and Caroline and Ric were seated around the living room, playing some video game on the TV that looked like it belonged to Jeremy when he came to visit them. Looking up from her winning streak, Elena could see shock momentarily flash across her child's face, before she leaped off the sofa and catapulted herself straight into Damon's arms.

"See?" Damon said, as he held his daughter close. "I told you I'd be coming back, didn't I?"

"Yes," Alexandra admitted. "I just thought something would go wrong, like it always does."

"I know what you mean," Damon said mock-seriously, before diverting to his original plan of launching a tickling attack on the little girl's sensitive stomach.

Laughing uncontrollably, she bucked and squirmed in his arms before they finally both collapsed on the couch in a laughing fit, even for Damon, who almost never laughed outright like he was now.

"I missed you," Alexandra said, more seriously this time as her laughs finally subsided.

"I missed _you_," Damon said, placing a finger to her nose. "We're not ever going to try that again, okay?"

"We better not."

"We won't," Damon promised, looking over at Elena, who had seated herself beside them. "Will we?"

"No," Elena said, shaking her head.

The rest of the night was built solely on catching up with one another, and having a good time. The drinks, for the adults, were plentiful, and the games that they managed to think up with one another, were equally as special and fun, especially for their fun-loving child.

By the time the fun and excitement died down, it was well past midnight, with all of the residents of the lake house, exhausted from the eventful night they had endured, but for all the right reasons, and with an outcome that had been well—deserved for those who had left.

Alexandra resisted going to bed, claiming she was not tired, even though the increased droopiness of her eyes pointed out differently, though her stubbornness was also winning out in different areas.

"I'm not sleepy," she argued, stifling a yawn as she looked at her parents, who were telling her it was time for her to go to bed for the night.

"Oh, really?" Damon challenged, "then tell me why your eyes are closing?"

"Because they're bored," she replied.

"Alexandra," Elena said, "it's midnight. It's a couple hours past your bedtime. We let you stay up later because Dad came back tonight, but you also need your sleep."

"What if I don't want to?" she countered, folding her arms across her chest.

"Well, then," Damon said, as he reached foreword and yanked her off the sofa, throwing her over his shoulder like she was a sack of potatoes. "I guess we could force you."

"No!" Alexandra said with a laugh, as her little fists playfully hit Damon, though it clearly had no affect on her father who walked with her down the hallway until they reached her room.

"Sit," Damon instructed, as he placed her on the bed. "Stay."

"Roof, roof," Alexandra said, rolling her eyes. "I'm not a dog, you know."

"No, really? I could have sworn I saw ears and a tail at some point."

"That wasn't me! That was the neighbors dog, Scruffy."

"Oh, well, my apologies," Damon said, as he bent down next to her bed to converse more freely with her. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah."

"Are you scared of anything in here?" he asked, wondering if her reticence to go to bed had something to do with her being spooked by something in the room.

"No. I just want to see you more."

"You will in the morning, I promise you."

"Pinkie swear?" she asked solemnly, holding up her pinkie to make the binding contract with him.

"You got it, kid," he said, as he hooked his pinkie with hers. "Do you want that nightlight on?" he asked, looking over at the light that had so far remained unused by the child.

"No, it's fine. If I get a bad dream, can I come in your room?"

"That's fine," Elena said, as she bent down to give her a hug and kiss. "We love you, baby."

"I love you too," Alexandra said, blowing a kiss to them the way she used to do with her parents.

"Sleep tight, princess," Damon said.

* * *

Elena was relieved that she and Damon were being granted the privilege to spend some much needed alone time with each other. It had been awhile, not since before the anti-magic spell was cast around Mystic Falls had they had the opportunity to escape from the world and all the stress it offered them.

Lying down on the mattress that suddenly felt ten times warmer now that she knew another body would be joining her, she looked up when she felt Damon's weight sag the mattress down a little bit as he moved to lay down with her.

Almost as though her body was moving on instinct, she scooted herself closer until her head was situated perfectly right on his inviting chest. Breathing deeply, she curled her hand under her body as she closed her eyes, breathing in the unique smell that he presented to her, and reveling in the unmatched peace she felt at finally being back in a pair of arms she knew would protect her from any and all harm the world presented to them.

"You doing okay?" Damon asked softly, his breath tickling a spot behind Elena's ear.

"Yes," Elena affirmed. "Now that you're back and now that Bonnie is, and everything is going to be okay."

"Not to burst your bubble, but we still have to figure out how to get Mystic Falls back," Damon reminded her. "No way am I letting any Travelers help themselves to my liquor cabinet."

"Of course not," Elena said with a laugh. "We'll figure it out," she added.

"Yes. We will," he said, tightening his grasp on her. "I'm glad that the spell worked."

"Did you have any doubts that it wouldn't?"

"Hard to feel overly confident when the witches already have a target on my head whenever they feel like it."

"At least it worked this time," Elena pointed out. "At least we got you back."

"Our little firecracker didn't want to go to bed," Damon said with a laugh. "She's already developing some of that Gilbert stubbornness."

"I think she's developed some of her Dad's," Elena countered, giving him a pointed look. "Sarcasm."

"It's adorable, isn't it?"

"If you say so," Elena said, leaning up to capture his lips in a kiss.

"I _do_," he said, reciprocating the kiss quickly, before pulling away, leaving Elena impatient for more.

"Can we...not talk right now?" Elena wondered quietly. "Can we just sit here and allow ourselves to bask in the moment before it's taken away?"

"Your wish, my command."

And for the next several hours, all Elena could do was lay there, cuddling up against Damon as she listened in the other room for her daughter's soft breaths, which signaled she had gone to sleep. It was a peacefulness like this that she longed for, and was now getting.

* * *

_Daddy Damon is back:) There will also be a Defan moment coming up that I have wanted to write for awhile._


	25. Chapter 25

Elena was not ready for her night with Damon to be over with already. It felt like they had barely settled down for the night before she was being rudely prodded awake by her internal clock that was demanding her full and undivided attention now, as she blinked one eye open in irritation, knowing she could not ignore the direction her body was trying to pull her toward, as she palmed her face tiredly with the heel of her hand.

The night before had been one of the best of her life. The fact that her boyfriend was back, that her best friend was back, all contributed to the happiness she had experienced that night as she and Damon laid in bed together. Sometimes intimate, sometimes just reveling in the fact that they were back in each others arms, that they had managed to defy each and every obstacle thrown at them, even death.

Smiling in complete exultation, she turned over on her other side to face her sleeping boyfriend. They had both fallen asleep at about roughly the same time, with his arm coming to take residence around her slender body like it always did when they fell asleep together, and her head coming to rest on its favored pillow in the crook of his arm.

Stifling a yawn with a concentrated effort so she would not risk waking him up when he so clearly needed the rest, she reached over on the dresser for her phone. The digital display informed her that it was nearly seven, around the time Alexandra normally woke up to start her day. Biting back the grin on her face when she was reminded that this would be their first full day as a family again, she settled back against his arm, almost giddy in the fact that, for once, everything was back to the way it should be, the earth rotating smoothly on its axis once again.

She did not miss it when he started to wake up, and she felt badly for him that he was being woken so early when he and Bonnie had gone through so much in trying to get back to them, and now that they had the chance to catch up on sleep, she thought they should for as long as they needed.

The slight shift in the way he breathed, let her know that he was close to waking up. Turning so that she was staring at his face, she bit back a smile when she saw him peek one blue eye open to look at her, before opening up another one, this time more slowly, as though he realized what his body was doing to him and resented it almost as much as she did.

"Ugh, you're staring," he groaned, as he laid back against the solo pillow he had positioned behind his head. "It's awkward."

"It's called love," Elena reminded him, as she wove her hand through his hair. "And this is called adoration." Dipping her head low, her lips connected with his as she laid her body flat against his, before his supernatural strength almost instantly flipped her over on her back, before taking the top spot.

"And this is called longing," he whispered, as his hand mimicked the same position she had been in, only this time he had more room to work with as his hand flowed through her hair almost like it belonged there. "Because I have missed you _so_ much."

The amount of depth and sincerity that rang from that simple statement, momentarily stunned Elena. She knew him to be a passionate person when he was expressing his love for her, but to hear the amount of emotion that clogged his vocal cords, was enough to bring an involuntary tear to her eye, one that was a result of his impassioned confession.

They were never shy about expressing their devotion to one another, but when it was verbally expressed with such heartbreaking honesty, that was when Elena was only given another visual confirmation of the right choice she had made for herself, and how her future was now irrevocably tied with Damon's, and she would not have it any other way.

"And I," she said, forcing herself to blink through her tears. "Have missed you more than I can even put into words, more than I can even think to string-" she was cut off by the almost desperate kiss he gifted her lips with, as her body reacted instinctively to what her spirit was feeling as her hand moved to cup his face.

"I love you so much, Elena."

"I love you, too." It was such a mediocre statement compared to the thousands of syllables she could use to describe her love for this man. "I love you more than I can even express right now, Damon."

"Even though I broke my promise to you?" he prompted softly, as his hand gently smoothed her hair behind her ear, his soft crooked smile never leaving his face.

"Yes," she breathed, feeling a tear trickle down her face to come to rest on the bridge of her nose, which Damon softly wiped away. "I forgive you. This once," she added.

"It's more than I deserve."

"What was it—" she swallowed, trying to formulate the right words to ask him about his time in whatever plane he had been subjected to when he had gone with the Other Side. "Where were you?"

In the limited time she had been allowed to spend with Damon and Bonnie, none of them had volunteered information on where they ended up after the Other Side destroyed itself. Either it was something better than what had been up previously, or it was worse.

Elena was not sure which version she would rather hear, and it honestly scared her as her hand moved reflexively to come to rest on top of Damon's still one, though she could definitely tell the difference from the relaxed pose he held before, to the slightly on edge one that he possessed now.

"We were in another plane, another world. It was a wasteland of corpses. Some were still alive," he said, swallowing convulsively. "Some were dead."

"Did any of them-"

"Come after us?" A nod in response. "One did at the beginning. It was someone I recognized from years back. I had to kill him, I had no choice. It was either that or watch him drain Bonnie dry."

Elena could not believe it when a single tear slid down his face at the act he had to commit to save himself and Bonnie. Many believed that Stefan was the one who had the most compassion out of the two of them, but it was Damon who felt just as strongly as Stefan, but was less inclined to show it.

When he did and it was out of response to something horrible that had happened to him, Elena knew to listen because it was rare that she ever got a look into the soul she had fallen in love with, and though she absolutely hated to see him in pain, she also knew that talking could sometimes be the best remedy.

"Was it just that one vampire?" she asked, when he didn't speak for several minutes.

"Yes. The rest of the time, we were in a constant state of limbo, or whatever you would call it. Going from plane to plane, land to land. The only free time we had was at night, when everything seemed to slow down and rest for awhile."

"Oh, Damon," she said, lying her head down on his chest. "I'm sorry you had to go through so much hell while you were stuck there."

"The only thought that kept me going and not reverting to form, was the idea of seeing you and our daughter again. That's the only thing that kept me sane from going down a really, _really_ dark road."

"We were right here, Damon, waiting anxiously for you to come back again. I don't know how we even got through these last few weeks without you," Elena said honestly, her mind unwillingly flashing back to that horrible period where he had been gone, and she had been searching desperately for an answer.

"Hey," Damon said softly, perhaps seeing the tears that Elena could feel leak out of her eyes. "It's okay. I'm right here. That's over, what happened, is over."

Elena nodded, trying to take comfort from the simple truth of his statement. "I know," she said, taking a deep breath. "You truly have no idea how much you mean to me and to Alexandra, and how much we love you."

Damon didn't respond, and Elena knew it was because he wasn't used to being shown the level of love and devotion that he was now receiving from her. Throughout his entire life, he had been told constantly by his father and others, including Katherine, that he wasn't good enough, that he wasn't worthy of the love that he was now being shown.

Nothing could have been further from the truth, and that was what Elena was trying to impress upon him now.

"I think I'm starting to get a clue," he finally said.

"Good," Elena said.

After all, how could he possibly have any doubts as to her love for him? She had willingly climbed into the car with him, knowing she would be speeding toward her death, she had fallen in love with and chosen him for better or worse, and those were the vows she intended on reciting on her wedding day.

Watching as he rolled over on his side, Elena's sensitive hearing picked up the sound of two tiny footsteps as they slapped against the hardwood flooring of the house, before disappearing down the hall.

"I think Alexandra's up," Damon whispered, stating the obvious.

"Yeah," Elena said, "we should get out there, I suppose."

Even though she hated leaving the sanctuary of the bedroom that had become like a safe haven to them, she knew that her daughter would be wondering where they were, and if they were even awake yet.

Before throwing the soft covers aside, her hands dug blindly through the canopy of sheets and blankets, trying to find the clothes that had somehow gotten lost in the heat of the night before. Her cheeks blushing a bright crimson, her hand came in contact with her panties and she slid them on precariously, while looking for the rest of the articles of fabric she had lost.

Looking back over her shoulder when Damon clicked his tongue, she snatched the offending bra where it had been hooked on his index finger. Finishing the rest of getting dressed, she fluffed her hair out the rest of the way before finally admitting that her carefree time with Damon, had come to an end.

"I don't want to go out there," she muttered, still denying that their time had come to an end.

"I know," Damon said, as he affectionately drew his finger along the contours of her face before ending at her jawline. "But we'll meet back here tonight. Same time, same place?"

"Yes," Elena breathed, trying to remember how to form words as he ended the encounter with a too quick peck on the lips. "I think we can arrange something like that."

"We better," he said, before turning away from her, but not before reaching down for her hand to grasp it, as though needing the comfort from her touch, but not actually willing to admit that fact out loud.

Walking out into the conjoined living room/kitchen area, they saw Alexandra already up and seated at the dining table. She was engaged in some lighthearted dispute with Stefan, while Caroline attempted to mediate it. Catching the sight of the two of them from the corner of her eye, Caroline was about to intercept the exchange, before seeing the subtle shake of his head that Damon gave her.

Grinning as he detached his hand from Elena's, Damon walked behind Alexandra, before clamping his hands down over her eyes. "Boo!" he said, before removing them and grabbing a seat next to her, watching as Elena did the same thing.

"You scared me," she said with a giggle. "I didn't hear you come up behind me."

Normally, with her vampire hearing, she could hear most noises and sounds that came up around her, but when she was distracted, it was harder for her to tune in to any of the outside noises that came her way.

"Because you were arguing with my brother," Damon said, before turning his attention on Stefan. "Really, Stef, a ten-year-old?"

"We were just having a healthy discussion about the pros and cons of drinking animal blood vs people blood."

"Please," Damon said, "tell me that you are not trying to convert her to the Bambi diet."

As if Damon hadn't had enough problems getting his brother on the right bandwagon, now he might have to worry about his daughter being influenced by the same misinformation that Stefan had lived off of for a century.

"No, not at all," Stefan said, throwing his hands wide.

"Good, because I would have to stake you myself," Damon said, giving him the kind of look that was meant to be teasing to any outside observer, but one that Stefan knew was deadly serious.

"No harm done."

"Good. Learning to hunt bunnies and squirrels is great for vamp hunting 101, but you always have to remember that it won't do any good in real life, sweetheart," he said, turning to Alexandra.

"Why not?" she asked, tilting her head to the side as she considered the mountain worth of information she was getting from both sides.

"Because relying solely on the sustenance of animal blood is nothing but a band-aid for the real problem. Stefan, case in point," he said, gesturing vaguely in Stefan's direction, "tried that for oh, over a century, but when he fell off the wagon, he fell off and landed in a ditch.

He didn't have the right tools to learn to control himself, and so when crunch time came, he didn't know how to pull himself back from the brink. Instead of spending all those years learning the art of self-control, he spent a century perfecting the art of vampire abstinence."

It was obvious his words had an impact on Alexandra. Swallowing back thickly, she turned away from her father to meet her mother's calm gaze as she nodded in affirmation of what Damon was saying. Elena had seen the worst of Stefan's radical change when he became soaked in human blood, and the effect it had on him, wasn't anything she would wish on her daughter, no matter how much she despised the idea of her, someday, learning to feed on people.

"I don't want to hurt people," she whispered, looking at her father for the comfort and truth she knew he would give to her.

"Honestly," Damon said, "it's a given at some point, like what happened with you and that man, but if you learn some control from the get-go, it can save a lot of future issues."

"I still don't like drinking the blood," she added, looking down at the cup that Elena had just given to her. "Is this people blood or animal blood?"

"People," Elena said, "Damon's right in that you have to learn to get used to people blood, but he's also right when he says that, for the time being, you should only learn to hunt using animals."

"If vampires are supposed to like people blood the most, why do I hate it so much?" she asked, swirling the contents of the cup. "It tastes like metal."

"Just because you're a vampire," Stefan said, "it doesn't mean that your taste buds change form because of it. I had to choke the blood down for months before I built up a tolerance for it."

"Will I ever learn to like it?" she asked, raising her eyebrows in a way that clearly meant she had her doubts about it.

"Eventually, yes."

"You'll get to a point where you don't think about it as much," Damon promised her. "Now, drink this."

It was obvious she didn't want to drink the blood. It was a predicament Damon could sympathize with her on. After all, when he first transitioned, he had gone into it with the mindset that he would die, that he would choose to not complete the transition, and when it was taken out of his hands, the anger and fear had been nearly unbearable for him at first.

"Can I drink it later?"

"Just two cups a day," Damon said softly. "You need to be building up a tolerance to this stuff, and then maybe it won't be as hard for you to drink from it, and then later, I'll take you out hunting."

"Okay."

"Plug your nose," Damon suggested. "Maybe it will help if you can't smell it."

He knew she would still have to put up with the taste of it, but if she didn't have to run into the added complication of having to smell it, he knew that would probably help her some in the long run. Watching with careful eyes as she finally drank the blood down, he gave her an encouraging smile once she finished it.

"Did I finish it?" she asked.

"You did," Elena said. "Good job, baby."

"Thanks. Do I have to go hunting now?"

"No," Elena said, shaking her head. "You have to go get in the shower, though, but the hunting can wait until later."

"Okay, thank you."

Watching as Alexandra hopped off her chair and trounced off into the bathroom, Elena sighed as she carefully started clearing up the dishes that had been left behind.

"Where's Bonnie?" Elena asked, noticing that her other best friend was nowhere in sight.

"She's catching up on her beauty sleep," Caroline replied, as she delicately applied some nail polish to her bare nails.

"Oh, well, Bonnie probably needs it," Elena said, "after everything."

"That's true," Stefan said, nodding. "Damon, ah, do you want to go outside with me for a minute?"

"Why?" Damon asked, instantly on alert for any tricks that his brother might be trying to pull.

"No reason, just want to give the whole concept of brotherly bonding a new attempt."

"So either you're crazy, or just feeling sentimental?" Damon ventured, as he got up from his place to follow him.

"One of the two," Stefan said with a shrug.

* * *

The property surrounding the lake house did not offer the two brothers much privacy as they walked a little ways ahead into the woods so they wouldn't run the risk of being overhead. While they had never exactly been close, not since Katherine at least, their relationship had recovered by leaps and bounds since Elena had made her final choice.

Still, Stefan wanting to have a "brotherly moment" with him, was the first time he had ever expressly said that, not since before Katherine had first rolled into Mystic Falls and ruined the great relationship the two of them had once shared with one another.

Stopping at the point where the two rivers met and joined into one, Damon turned to face Stefan, crossing his arms casually over his chest as he looked at him expectantly.

"Well? What do you want, bro?"

"I just wanted to talk," Stefan said.

"I _get_ that," Damon said, rolling his eyes. "But why?"

"Do you remember," Stefan said, a slow smile spreading across his face as a memory suddenly came to mind. "When you came back from school and taught me how to play football?"

Damon nodded. "Oh, yeah, that was our thing back then. Of course, I beat your ass."

"You still do."

"It was a long time ago," Damon said, cutting himself off from feeling too nostalgic about the fact that he and Stefan had spent nearly their entire lives as best friends until something got in the way.

"Do you ever wonder what would have happened had she _not_ come to Mystic Falls?" Stefan asked.

"All the time," Damon said with a scoff. "You and I would be forgotten by now, with nothing but an incorrect headstone to mark our time here. We would have gotten to live to a ripe old age, but then again, I never would have met Elena, and I never would have gotten Alexandra."

"You see, that's the one good thing that Katherine brought to our lives," Stefan said, shaking his head slowly. "She created a rift between us, Damon, but she also brought us love in the form of Elena."

"Katherine never created that rift. That was you and I."

"Damon," Stefan said, obviously getting to the point of his conversation. "It's been 164 years since I made the decision to force you to turn. I was selfish, and I didn't take into account what your feelings about it were. I'm sorry, I'm sorry that I did this to you, but I'm not sorry either, because like you said, you never would have experienced love like this."

Damon nodded slowly, different parts of himself warring with the other over his love for Stefan, and the anger that he felt that he had taken his choices away from him. If there was one thing that rang true from Stefan's statement, it was that he had fallen in love, and had gotten the family that he had always wanted.

"You can't change the past, Stefan."

"I know that. I'm sorry. Do you forgive me? After all this time, after everything that we've been through together, do you forgive me?"

Forgiveness was a foreign word to Damon. He only applied it to people like Elena and Ric, but with Stefan, there had been over a century of bitterness and anger stored up inside a vault inside of him that hadn't ever entirely healed. Not all of it even came from Stefan forcing him to change, it came from the realization that Katherine had favored Stefan over him.

"I won't ever forget," Damon said, finally feeling strong enough to face him. "But I do forgive you, brother."

After storing up and living with a century of anger at his little brother, Damon had finally reached the plateau of recognizing the difference between forgiveness and acceptance, and even though he would never forget what happened, he was finally able to put it behind him and forgive.

It was clearly the response Stefan had been looking foreword. Without thinking, he walked foreword and embraced his brother, clearly feeling the first rays of hope for their relationship in quite a long time.

"Thank you."

"I didn't do it for you. Truth be told, it's gotten kind of exhausting worrying about whatever eternal misery I was going to bestow upon you next."

Stefan laughed once. "Glad to see you're finally retiring your efforts."

Damon didn't comment. Somewhere behind them, a snap of a twig alerted them to the fact that they were not alone in the forest. Someone (or something) was watching them. Giving his brother a look, Damon took the lead as Stefan stayed behind him, covering his back.

The noise had been too loud for an animal to make along. Either it was an exceptionally large deer, or someone was out there and had been paying attention to them.

"On three," Damon said, looking behind him at Stefan. "Don't screw this up."

"Shut up," Stefan whispered, as he focused on the footprints they could hear meet the dirt on the other side of the tree coverage. Moving without warning, he easily pushing himself through the cover of the trees, and came out in time to grab a male vampire by the arm, as the intruder instantly struck back in defense.

"Whoa, whoa," Damon said breezily, as though what was happening was no big deal. "Let's break it up, kids and let the adults sort this out-" he cut himself off mid-sentence as he looked at the man in front of him. "Enzo?"

"Hello, Damon."


	26. Chapter 26

Damon could not even remember the last time he had locked eyes with his former best friend, Enzo. He tended to block painful and unpleasant events from his memory, and Enzo was one of them as he stared at him as though his friend had grown two heads in the space of time since they last had seen each other. He still looked the same, still had the lopsided, easygoing grin on his face, but the difference was not in his appearance, (though that certainly had changed also), it was the fact that he was free.

The last time they had seen each other, they had been test subjects in opposite cells by a secret society that thought they would get their rocks off by experimenting on and torturing vampires for their own perverted amusement, even though they claimed that it was for something different, something that would benefit the race of vampires in the end.

It was something Damon had done a very good job of blocking from his subconscious, even though it always had a way of sneaking back in when he least expected it, when the walls guarding his brain were let down in a moment of weakness and his mind unwillingly gave him a front row seat to that period of time that he would do anything to let go of once and for all.

A placid smile gracing his easygoing features, Enzo walked foreword and embraced his old friend, though Damon returned it reluctantly, still trying to figure out how his old friend was alive and free after everything they had gone through at the society, things that still haunted him to this day.

"How in the hell did you get off the hamster wheel they had you on, buddy?" Damon asked, still keeping a somewhat safe distance from the free vampire, not sure of what he was capable of since he last had seen him.

When he last had seen him, he had been feeding off Enzo's rations, trying to preserve strength in order to pull of a master escape plan, which had succeeded, only in ways that Damon would have never anticipated before then, as he focused on his friend's face.

"I took a note out of the Damon Salvatore book of ingenuity. When the lab rats took me out of that man-made steel hell, I went 007 on them."

"You tore their hearts out," Damon said, nothing in his voice but acceptance of the fact that he would do something like that in order to escape death, or certain brainwashing by people who used their skills in science to reprogram their vampire brains to do horrible things.

"No, actually. I tore their lungs out through their chest cavity and threw it in their faces," Enzo said, shrugging as though that atrocious act was no big deal to him, and Damon knew it wasn't. "I also found out that my love is dead, and it happened over fifty years ago."

"Who was it?" Damon asked, recalling hundreds of conversations in which he and Enzo had kept each other going by talking about their families. In Enzo's case, the only "family" he had was the woman who worked at the society, who had protected him out of a moral obligation to stop the torture from continuing.

"Maggie. Remember her? Impeccably dressed, and a heart of gold?' Enzo prompted, an impassioned spark in his eye as he looked at Damon. "And who is this? The phantom brother you were so sure was going to come and save our sorry selves?"

Stefan had so far remained silent throughout the conversation, but stirred at the mention of his name, as he stepped foreword to meet the newcomer who had invaded on their land. It was not a surprise to him that Damon would have friends from years past, but the veiled references to horrific torture, was something that was completely new to him.

"Ah, is this a friend of yours, Damon?" he asked, not sure how else to start off the conversation with the stranger, who turned his sharp eyes on him the second his name was mentioned by him.

"Yeah," Damon said, "this is Lorenzo, or Enzo, as he prefers to be called. We knew each other back in the day."

"From what?" Stefan asked, spreading his arms wide in apparent confusion.

"From something that I have no interest in recalling," Damon said, effectively ending the discussion. "It was back fifty years ago, you and I were on the outs as usual, and something happened that Enzo got me through."

Even though he and Stefan had been on the outs back then, there was not an inch of Damon that had stopped hoping for a miracle rescue from his little brother, who had to have known that _something_ was amiss when he did not contact him for nearly five years.

"What happened?" Stefan asked, looking back and forth between his brother and his friend.

"Something that's down in the history books, brother, not worth diving back into the old archives to retell."

His defensiveness was a cover for the horror he had gone through when he had been captured at the boarding house by his crazed uncle who had tricked him there for the society to torment him. It had been a situation that he had been powerless to escape from, and when he thought his brother would come for him and he did not, it had been a shock to his system that he had not entirely recovered from.

"Well, anyway," Stefan said, knowing to drop the subject when Damon failed to dive any further into his unwanted history. "What are you doing here now?" he asked, directing his attention to Enzo.

"I just came here to catch up with my old friend, maybe catch a beer and inquire as to whether or not he was still infatuated with that elusive Katherine Pierce."

"So you know about her," Stefan said, shaking his head in amusement. "Did Damon tell you his entire life story?"

"I got enough."

"We were stuck together pretty much constantly," Damon said, recalling the hours upon hours he had been forced to sit and nearly die of thirst inside his miniscule cell, something he would never let his control—issued brother know about.

"And somehow, through the tedious amount of talking we did, we managed to help each other," Enzo said. "Who would have known?"

"Well," Damon said, as he started to walk back toward the lake house, fully aware that he would be leading his friend into the lions den to meet Elena and their friends, and not to mention his new daughter. "Katherine Pierce is hopefully burning in hell as we speak, and I have built a nifty life for myself, complete with a white picket fence."

Even though there was still a part of him that cared about the manipulative vampire who had simultaneously fixed and broke his heart, there was not an inch of him that still loved or felt pity for her when she had gotten anything and everything that she had deserved when she had been dragged into the vortex of oblivion that Bonnie said she had been dragged to.

"Oh, well, trouble in paradise," Enzo said. "So tell me about this new white picket fence."

"Well, the curse of sibling rivalry reared its ugly head when we both fell in love with Katherine's doppleganger, and then long story short, I got the girl complete with a kid."

"Wow, you really _are_ living the American dream."

"For a vampire, yes," Damon said, as he wrenched open the screen door to lead him inside. "The house is occupied by vampires, no ownership, no need to be invited in."

Taking that as his cue to step through, Damon watched carefully as Enzo inspected the spacious setting of the lake house before following him through the intermingling halls until they reaching the main living and dining area.

Alexandra had finished with her shower and was grudgingly allowing Caroline to comb a brush through her unruly hair as Elena attempted to console her frustrated child. Looking up at the sound of his approach, Elena's eyes widened at the sight of the stranger, before simmering down when Damon gave her the kind of look that instantly put her at ease.

"Elena," Damon said carefully, "this is Enzo. Enzo, this is Elena and my daughter, Alexandra."

"H—Hi," Elena said, standing up from her place to go and meet him. Her natural compassion toward people, winning out over any nervousness she previously felt as she held out her hand for a diplomatic shake. "It's nice to meet you."

"It's my pleasure," Enzo said. "And this is your daughter?"

"Yeah," Elena said, looking at Damon over Enzo's shoulder, wondering how he managed to find an old friend out in the middle of nowhere, and why he felt comfortable inviting him into the home. "This is Alexandra."

"It's nice to meet you," Enzo said, as he gave the little girl a friendly smile.

"Nice to meet you, too. Are you a friend of Dad's?"

"From many years back," Enzo confirmed. "At the time, he was the only friend I had."

"Where did you two meet?" Elena asked, not quite sure why she had never heard about Enzo, when clearly he and Damon had history together at some point.

"It was awhile back," Damon said, the tone of his voice clearly implying he did not wish to delve into something that was clearly off limits for discussion, and as hard as it was for Elena to respect that, she did.

"And so now you came back?"

"I did," Enzo confirmed. "Partly for nostalgic reasons, and partly to figure out what happened to my girlfriend."

"Your girlfriend-"

"She was murdered by an unknown assailant," Enzo said, clearly having trouble getting the right words out. "I was hoping to revisit my old hometown and see if I can get the information I need."

"So you didn't come back to get a drink?" Damon asked.

"No, I came back for that too, mate, but I came back to figure out who killed my Maggie."

"The fabled Maggie who was your savings grace," Damon said breezily. "What happened to her?"

"That's the problem: I don't know. All I found was her head detached from her bloody body," Enzo said, shaking his head in disbelief. "A rogue vampire must have done it, and I want to know who."

"Okay, well," Damon said, trying to defuse the match Enzo was about to light. "How about you and I go out and grab a couple shots, and we'll talk about it, like the civilized serial killers we are, okay?" he prompted, clapping him on the shoulder.

Enzo seemed to consider the offer, before nodding his head in resignation, as though he had no choice but to give up his frantic search for revenge when no evidence was in front of him at that point.

"That sounds good, mate."

"Wait outside. I'll be out in a minute."

Enzo nodded, seeming to take his instructions to heart as he turned and walked out of the house. Damon waited until the distinctive sound of the screen door slamming shut, met his ears before he turned to Elena and Alexandra.

"Okay, so who was that exactly?" Elena started off instantly, as though she had been waiting all that time to say it.

She knew Damon had skeletons buried deep inside his closet, but she was not expecting them to follow him home—literally—especially when they had their daughter to worry about, and who they allowed to be around her.

"I told you," Damon said, avoiding her gaze. "He's an old roomie of mine from back when."

"And why is he suddenly tracking you down?" Elena asked.

"He wants to figure out who killed his girlfriend, I guess, but a part of him wanted to catch up."

"With you?"

"Yes, no, I don't know."

"Is he a threat, Damon?" Elena asked, stepping closer to him as she placed her hands against his chest. "Is he a problem for Alexandra?"

Damon shook his head; he knew enough about Enzo to know that he would not be a problem for their daughter. He was not out to slaughter innocent vampires, but to seek justice for the women he loved, and who had been taken from him. "No, he's fine."

"Are you sure?"

"_Yes_."

"Okay," Elena said, "have fun."

"Oh, I plan to," Damon said, as he bent down so Alexandra could kiss his cheek. "Thanks, sweetheart, see you later."

"See you later, Daddy."


	27. Chapter 27

The club was crawling with eager partygoers who were desperate for that extra dose of adrenaline as they sat at the bar, taking in the scenery of men that most often flocked to them, or to sometimes, the games being shown on the large screen televisions if they were into sports. Some took the excitement even further and hopped on the bar top to dance their booties off for the men gathered underneath them.

It was a chaotic sight and one that Damon was far too used to to take much notice of the ladies as they shamelessly ogled him, seeking him out for the kind of attention that would either end up on the news later on, or end with their disappearance entirely. Either way, Damon was not interested and only had eyes for one woman in particular, and she was as far-removed from the busy nightlife scene of the local town bar as it was possible to be.

Sliding his way through the mass to make it to the bar for a quick round of shots with Enzo, who had stayed right behind him, clearly not used to the new customs of the world that he had been taken out of when the society had captured him. Slipping stealthily into a bar stool, he placed his typical order of Bourbon, and waited for Enzo to make his move.

"What the hell is this kind of music, anyway?" Enzo grumbled, as he turned a distasteful eye to the jukebox which was pumping out modern-day dance music from a whiny artist that honestly made Damon's ears bleed, as he tried to turn a blind eye to it.

"It's dance music. I guess the mainstream public thinks this passes for entertainment, when really, it's a vomit inducing crapfest," Damon said, using his typical blunt humor as he turned to his friend.

"You got the girl," Enzo said. "You even got the kid. All things that our species was destined never to have, and yet you got it."

"It wasn't without it's drawbacks," Damon said, "and through multiple trial and error that I finally got Elena to realize her love for me."

It gave Damon a headache when he thought over everything he had to do to get Elena to realize her love for him. It was through trial and error, and having to lose her over and over again had she finally come to the rightful conclusion on her own that they belonged together.

"And what about the little kid?"

"She wasn't planned," Damon said, "but she happened, and I love her like she's my own."

Enzo nodded, seeming to take his friend's sudden seriousness to heart as he finished off his round of shots and ordered some more. "So she's a vampire, I take it."

"Some son of a bitch that's going to get his throat ripped out when I'm through with him, turned her after he killed her parents."

"Usually our kind runs a little smoother than stooping so low as to turn a child into a vampire," Enzo said, shaking his head. "Reminds me of when the Whitmore family was still up and running in action. By the way, do you remember our pact?"

"To exterminate every last one of them?" Damon said with a scoff. "Yeah, I remember that."

"And have you?" Enzo pressed, "have you stayed true to the deal we made to each other?"

"Every single one through the line," Damon said, recalling with perfect clarity the deal he and Enzo made to kill each and every last member of the Whitmore line. "I added a kink to it, though."

"What do you mean?" Enzo asked, quirking an eyebrow in amusement of what Damon was implying.

"I left one alive through the generations," Damon said, shrugging like it was no big deal. "Each decade or so, I'd come back and pay a little visit to our old friends."

"Cheers to that," Enzo said, tipping his glass to Damon. "So what now? You have the girl, the kid, and the house. Are you just going to clean up your act and be family material?"

Damon scoffed, but did not immediately comment on his friend's choice of wording. It occurred to him more than once that his life—past and present—was not entirely conducive to how he was living now, relatively normally for a vampire, except when a threat presented itself, and not going out every night to an all you can eat buffet with more than his fair share of unwilling participants.

"Well, you know me, the act had to come apart at some point. I'm still me, I'm still the same dick that I know I am, but things happened in my life that I never counted on, and I'd be worse off than that dude over there," he said, pointing to a lonesome looking twenty-something dude, "if I dared mess it up."

"So Elena has no idea that you've been playing amputation specialist on her college buddies family?"

"Well, when you put it bluntly, no," Damon said, shaking his head, reaching for the cheap bottle that the waitress had left for him on the counter to help himself with. "Those skeletons have stayed tied up for years, Enzo, no need to rock the boat right now."

Even though he and Elena were steady in their relationship, it did not escape his realization of how she would feel if he were to reveal to her that he spent his spare time going on a murder spree every decade or two when another Whitmore family member came of age. At least he drew the line on murdering children, but that had never been his style anyway, and now with Alexandra in his life, it was definitely not an option.

"Well, you know, I hope for your sake, Elena is the understanding type of gal."

"It's a funny thing actually," Damon said, an amused smirk edging across his mouth. "It seems that the worse the behavior someone exhibits, case in point, her little brother cheating in school, she defends it."

"So for all that bloody murder and mayhem, she'll grant you a pardon?"

"And celebrate me probably," Damon said, shrugging. "That's the thing about my girl, Enzo, she loves me way more than she probably should, and I don't mind it because I feel the exact same way about her."

"Well, if Maggie was still drawing breath, I would probably feel the same way you do right now, mate, but at least one of us gets to have a healthy love life," Enzo said, tipping his glass in Damon's direction.

"Cheers to that," Damon said. "So tell me what happened to Maggie."

Of course he had seen Maggie around the prison cells the Augustine society kept their research subjects housed in. She was one of them, but had been overcome by a rare sense of compassion that rivaled some of Elena's greatest hits, and had formed a bond with Enzo.

"The poor girl wanted me to turn her, was convinced she couldn't live her life without me," Enzo said, a noticeable shift coming across his face when he started talking about that period. "I took her vervain bracelet and compelled her to forget about me."

Damon wished he could have had the guts to do that with Elena on a few separate occasions, but then he realized all of the missed opportunities he would have never gotten to see unfold if he had done that, had done what Enzo had done to Maggie. It was a selfless act of love, but one that may have ultimately cost her her life.

"And then what?" Damon asked, not sure if he wanted to see the fairytale come to such a grisly end when he knew now how fanatical Enzo was about finding her real killer, and seeing them pay for the crimes they had committed.

"I stood and endured more than my fair share of torture for the next year, before their next party rolled around, and I acted upon my plan to rid myself the hell away from that bloody building."

"And so did you?"

"Minus the inferno, yes."

Damon nodded, trying not to let the guilt show on his face as he finished back another shot. Tolerance for a vampire was a shaky thing. Damon, over the years, had amassed more beverages in his lifetime to safely float a boat, but there always came a point where his tolerance would dwindle and eventually die down, and he knew he had to be careful so he wouldn't go home stinking drunk.

"So how did you find out that she was killed?"

"Asked around, compelled a few people as to the location of a Maggie James in the area, and instead found out that she was dead, killed by a mystery assailant who dismembered her head from her body."

"And when was this?" Damon asked, feeling a cold chill run down his spine.

He had killed many people over the ensuing century he had been alive as a vampire, but he had never even thought twice about his victims, or what they could mean to anyone. That was the beauty with turning off his emotions at will, it was something that rid him of the unwanted, negative feelings that were associated with humanity.

"Election night. November 8, 1960. She was a reporter, I guess, probably one of the only ones who was able to get interviews from the candidates, and someone slaughtered her, Damon, like she was a piece of fresh meat."

Damon nodded, tearing his eyes away from his friend. "What do you want to know about it, Enzo?"

"I want to know who did it and why. I have her journals, compelled them from an unwilling deputy at the station. I have yet to look through them, but maybe it will give me some insight into what the hell happened."

Damon nodded. "I hope it does."

"Will you help me?"

"Help you with what?"

"Kill whatever son of a bitch murdered my girlfriend? Just like old times, mate?"

"Yeah, sure."

Damon returned to the lake house with a heavy, burdened heart. He knew exactly what happened to Maggie back in the '60's, and the last thing he wanted was to open that can of worms and let Enzo know what he knew about it, and though he knew his friend deserved the truth for his own peace of mind, he also could not stand letting him down and revealing what really happened that cold election night.

Enzo had gone off to a motel room that Damon had offered to pay for with his credit card. Even though he trusted his friend, he did not trust him enough to let him sleep around Elena and Alexandra, especially if he was high on the alert for anyone who might have information on Maggie's death.

Walking through the living room, he saw Ric lounging back on the sofa, a contemplative look on his face as he finished what looked like, his second or third blood bag. Walking around the custom-made coffee table, he plopped down next to his friend.

"Hey," Damon said. "Hungry much?"

In the last few weeks since Alaric had returned, he had been struggling to adjust to his new life as a supercharged Original vampire, who still had unpredictable mood swings and urges that needed to be monitored.

"This stuff helps the cravings," Ric explained. "Never thought I would have to rely on blood to survive, but here I am."

His entire adult life had been devoted to researching and following after his wife's murderer, never knowing that his soon-to-be best friend had committed the act, and had turned her into a vampire, the one creature she wanted to be more than anything, and was willing to give up anything and everything, including him.

"It's a tricky beast, isn't it?" Damon said, as he pulled out his cellphone to check for text messages. "Just make sure you don't pull an Alexandra."

"What do you mean?" Ric asked, as he gathered up the empty blood bags and threw them aside.

"She _hates_ the blood, any kind of blood, actually," Damon said, shaking his head. "It's a battle of wills to get her to drink any."

"Even from a blood bag?" Ric asked.

"Yup," Damon said, popping the sound on the last word. "I try to remember to give it to her in cups, but even then, she's still hesitant about the whole thing."

"Well, it probably has something to do with her age. She's ten, right?"

Damon nodded, squeezing the bridge of his nose with his two fingers. "Yeah, yeah she is. We're already dealing with her hyped up emotions, and me dying didn't really do her any favors."

"Right. So tell me about Enzo. What's his deal?"

"He was an old cellmate of mine. A real ray of sunshine," Damon said, a faux look of disgust crossing over his face, even though Alaric could tell it was exaggerated.

"And so what? He kept you going?"

"Right up until the bitter, nasty end; kept talking about family, and how lucky I was to have a brother, even though that brother never tried to find me," he said, shaking his head in mild irritation at the fact that Stefan had never thought to look for him.

"Stefan never did?" Ric asked quietly, his voice shifting from that of impassive calm to barely concealed shock.

"Nope. It may have just been because he was off in his Ripper days, but for five years, I was being tortured by Augustine freaks, and he never tried to look for me."

"Did he ever explain why?"

"He didn't have to, Ric."

"Oh, okay," Ric said, sensing that he needed to drop the subject. "Was it good to catch up with him?"

Damon shrugged. "I guess. He has an old girlfriend from back in the day, who was ripper'd to death."

"By Stefan?" Ric asked.

"I don't know yet. If it's the Maggie I think it is, I already know what happened to her, but I don't want to broach that subject with Enzo yet."

"Why not?"

"Because it might have been me who killed her."

* * *

Damon was secretly relieved when Elena and Alexandra walked back in after going on an excursion to the local mall to shop for more clothing for their daughter, since they had to leave most of their things behind when they fled the boarding house after the anti-magic spell was brought up.

He did not want to think about the fact that he may have killed Enzo's only hope for getting out of the cell, and he did not want to think about what would happen if it was proven that he did indeed kill the Maggie that Enzo was in love with. It had happened so many years ago, the days all blurring together into an unrecognizable blur until he could not even remember what she looked like, or if it was the same Maggie that Enzo was talking about.

"Hey," Elena said, as she walked into their bedroom, carrying her shopping bags. "Alexandra wants to model some of her new clothes for you."

"Oh, I can't wait," Damon said, propping himself up on one elbow. "Send her on in."

Elena obliged, walking out of the room briefly, before sending Alexandra in to show off her new clothes, which consisted of an appropriate summer dress and some new Disney-style flats, which looked positively adorable on her, and even though he was worried about the potential fallout concerning Enzo, he could not help but focus on his daughter in that moment.

"Doesn't she look adorable," Elena said, "she felt like she was going out of her mind with the limited selection of clothes she had to worry about."

"I think you look amazing," Damon said, "you'll put all those other kids on the playground to shame."

"Thanks, daddy," she said, as she hopped on the bed where he was lying. "Where's Enzo?"

"He's staying someplace down the road a little bit; figured the lake house was a little bit too crowded as it was."

Truthfully, that was not the concern. The house was perfectly capable of holding one more person, but the concern was Enzo's present state of mind, and how that possibly have a negative impact on Elena and their child together.

"You didn't feel it was okay for him to stay here?" Elena asked, crawling over to his other side, and laying her head down on his shoulder.

Damon gave her a subtle shake of his head so he would not scare Alexandra. "It's not that really, it's just that he's not in a good place right now, and I thought it would be better to give him some distance from us."

"What's going on with him?" Elena asked softly.

"Someone killed his girlfriend," Damon said quietly. "He wants to know who, and he promises a hellstorm of consequence if he finds out who was responsible."

"Do you think you know who did it?" Elena asked, shifting her position so she was laying her head across Damon's chest, her hand entwined with his.

"I might have a clue," Damon said evasively, "but I'm waiting to hear more about it before I make my final determination."

There was no way he was risking stirring the pot with her before he had all the facts he needed.

"_Really_? Who was it?" Elena demanded.

"It's not a for sure guess yet-" he was cut off from answering the rest of the question when his phone rang. Giving Elena a look, he dug it out from his pocket, looked and the message and sighed. "Enzo has the police reports from when they found Maggie's body."

"What does he want you to do?" Elena asked.

"He wants me to come over to his motel room so we can talk it over."

"Okay, well, be safe."

"I will."


	28. Chapter 28

Damon was well aware of the fact that he was potentially heading into the lions den, as he got in the car that Ric offered to let him use since his Camaro was now in the ruins of the Grille back in Mystic Falls, and drove down the condensed town roads to the one, small motel establishment that stood shakily under its core foundation. It was the one place that Damon trusted Enzo to be without causing too much havoc in his wake.

Stepping out of the car, he sent a final text message to Elena letting her know where he was, before walking up the outside steps to the outside second floor landing where Enzo's room was stationed directly at the end. The faded, gold embossed room number "19" hung precariously on its hook as Damon raised his fist to knock, but then thought better of it and instead invited himself in to the place, knowing that motels and other businesses were open season for vampires, unlike private residences.

The room reeked of the poorly concealed smell of alcohol, mixed in with something stronger that Damon would recognize in his deepest rest. Looking down in distaste at the shards of glass that came as a result of the broken beer bottles, he looked right ahead when the smell grew to an overwhelmingly alarming rate, and saw a small stash of bodies that had only recently been deceased.

Leaning down to check the vital signs of one woman who looked like she might be alive, he was rewarded when she gave a faint jerk at his featherlight touch. Sighing in disbelief that he had to clean up Enzo's mess, one that he had not even bothered finishing, he bit into the vein in his wrist without blinking and shoved his arm up against the woman's mouth, giving her the nourishment she needed to heal quickly from the trauma sustained to her.

"There you go," Damon coaxed softly. "Now," he said, leveling his gaze with hers the way he did when he was trying to compel someone, only this time, it would be to save her life instead of a sick game or sport. "You leave this place right now, and never think about what happened to you again."

The woman observed him with the kind of suspicious look that made him know she was questioning the compulsion, but she could not fight the order as she stood under his aid, and walked slowly out of the darkened room, leaving nothing behind but the bloody imprint in which her body had been laying in.

Shaking his head in complete incredulity at his friend's sloppiness, and knowing that it was all contributed to the haze of grief Enzo was currently under, he walked further into the room, stealthily stepping over other odds and ends before reaching the closed bathroom door, which was locked and bolted, even though Damon knew he could destroy the lock in a matter of only seconds.

"Enzo! Open up. You called me, remember?"

He was honestly beginning to wonder if Enzo had started to turn a dangerous corner in his almost obsessive need for revenge and to know who killed his girlfriend once and for all. It was not like experienced vampires to leave behind a trail of victims for the police to find later, and it was not like Enzo to leave them alive, either.

Hearing some kind of commotion behind the closed door, he took a step back, suddenly grateful that he had made the call to have Enzo come there, instead of taking the risk of having him be a guest at the lake house, where any number of things could have happened, and right under the same roof his daughter and Elena were in.

When Enzo finally opened the bathroom door and stepped out, he did not look any worse for wear, and Damon did not know whether to take that as a good sign or not. He supposed it was good that he still looked put together, but the almost frightening calmness in which he paced around the room, was also off-putting as he finally took a break from his walking, and sank down into a rickety desk chair that clearly stored some of the police files, from the way his hands moved automatically to a stack of papers that had been meticulously organized.

"You were late for the party, Damon," he remarked, as he looked through some of the less revealing papers, before setting some aside for the two of them to inspect together.

"I must have missed the memo," Damon cracked dryly. "Pretty sloppy of you to leave that woman alive."

"No bother, I figured she'd die soon enough anyway from either blood loss or shock. Was I right?" he asked, looking up from the stooped position he had held while he read the papers.

"No, actually," Damon said, as he took a seat on the end of the bed. "I healed her and then compelled her to leave-"

"Oh, come on, Damon, don't ruin the good fun I was having," he crowed. "I thought maybe I could get a _glimmer_," he said, holding up two fingers to show his emphasis. "Of the same feeling I felt for Maggie with that woman, but to no avail."

"So you left her to _die_?" Damon said incredulously. "Dude, Enzo, I get that you're grieving this woman, but that doesn't mean you risk exposing not only yourself, but me too."

"Don't worry, mate, the police won't find you or me. They're not bright enough. I compelled some feisty blond at the sheriff's department to hand these over," he said, as he handed over the collected pile of papers for Damon to look at.

"That's not just any sheriff, you idiot," Damon said with a moan, as he set the papers in his lap. "That was Liz Forbes. She was wearing vervain, she played you."

"Liz Forbes? Caroline's mother?" Enzo said, a spark suddenly showing in his nearly dead expression as he watched Damon peruse the papers.

"Yup. Caroline's momma. She's a friend of mine, actually, Enzo, so try not to drain her dry if you can avoid it."

"No worries. The only ones I'm interested in murdering, are the ones that were responsible for what happened to Maggie."

Damon nodded, his heart making the rapid leap from his chest to his throat as he looked at the grisly crime scene photographs of the woman in question, and it made him sick to his undead stomach. "This was Maggie, Enzo?" he asked softly, as he spread the pictures out over the desk for him to look at.

"A beauty, wasn't she?" Enzo said, an almost proud expression crossing his face as he looked at her dead corpse. "And someone took that bright smile right off her face, and tore her head off."

"Yeah, she was," Damon agreed softly. "Did the police ever find out who did it?"

Not that they ever would because Damon knew who had committed the repulsive act, and it was him. Maggie had been an unfortunate victim in his way when she stumbled upon him for what she claimed was an interview, and had instead ended with her decapitation.

Swallowing back the non-existent bile in the back of his throat, he scrubbed a hand over his face as he tried to figure out the best way to tell Enzo that he had been the one to murder his girlfriend, the one savings grace he held onto throughout the horrific years of torture he endured.

"Do you know what this looks like?" Enzo asked, breaking Damon out of his trajectory of thoughts as he flipped to another picture of the bloody carnage. "A ripper death."

"What do you mean?" Damon asked. "You think a ripper would be so careless as to leave a body in full view of the public?" After all, the killing had happened right in front of the populace who were too engrossed in election night to pay much attention to what was happening right behind them.

"No, but I think one ripper in particular would be so sloppy as to leave a rotting corpse behind. Like your brother, Damon. I heard legends about his greatest hits. The ripper who slaughtered an entire village once?"

Damon nodded numbly, trying not to relive the decades where Stefan had been nothing but an out-of-control ripper who dismembered victims and out of a moral sense of obligation to protect their dignity, placed their body parts next to their body. It was disgusting, and something that made Damon sick thinking about it, but it was something he ended up using to his advantage when he committed the atrocious act.

"Enzo, I don't think this was Stefan."

"Oh? Then who could it be?" Enzo asked, tilting his head to the side in honest inquiry.

"I don't know," Damon lied, "but I know where my brother was on November 8th 1960, and it wasn't there. He was still in his brooding, massacre days but he wasn't anywhere near there."

He hoped the lie would be enough to cover Stefan, and at the same time, divert Enzo from going the other route, which would be to start questioning _him_ about the murder. Damon knew there would come a day when he would end up confessing to Enzo about what he had done, but he did not want it to be in such close proximity to where Elena and Alexandra were.

"Where are your brothers journals?" Enzo asked. "Wasn't he the kind of masochist who liked recalling each and every heart he stopped?"

"Yeah, that's the thing about my baby bro," Damon said, shrugging nonchalantly. "He enjoyed the feed and the kill, but then his sucker of a subconscious kicked in and he spent the next century tormenting himself over it. He burned his journals. He was in a mood."

"Oh, well, no bother. I'll find out who did it. Getting the police records was the first step. It won't take me much longer before I figure it out, mate, and then do you want to help me finish them off?"

"Yeah," Damon said weakly, "it sounds like a date."

"Finally, after all these years of wondering what happened to her, I can feel it in the palms of my hands that I'll finally figure it out."

"I hope you do, buddy."

But more than that, Damon hoped that his research would not dig up the realization that it had been his oldest and most trusted friend who had inadvertently betrayed him by murdering the love of his life, and hid that fact for over fifty years, and more recently from him.

* * *

Damon returned to the lake house with an anxious heart. He knew that Enzo would stop at nothing to find Maggie's killer, and he knew the closer he got to figuring out that it was him, the less time he had to figure out a strong defense for himself so that nothing would happen to Elena and their daughter, because of Enzo wanting his own, sick revenge for the act.

Walking through the living room/kitchen area, he turned and walked down the hallway and right into the bedroom he shared with Elena, and sometimes their daughter when she had a bad nightmare. Stripping off his shoes and jeans and jacket, he laid down against the soft pillows as he looked over to his side and saw Elena quietly watching him, analyzing every move he made as though she was concerned for him for some reason.

"What?" Damon said softly, as he turned over on his side to face her completely.

"How was Enzo?" she asked softly, her voice turning down a decibel in response to the natural compassion that Damon could feel emitting out of her in waves.

"Fanatical," Damon put it bluntly. "He's not in a good place right now, Elena."

"What do you mean?" she asked, propping herself up on her elbow.

"I don't know what he's capable of right now. He left some girl almost dead on his motel floor, and then he thought he compelled Caroline's mom, but he's not thinking right now, not at all."

"Only about finding Maggie's killer?" Elena asked softly, the sympathy in her tone for what this poor man was going through, making the inevitable guilt that settled over Damon's heart, even worse as he tried to contemplate the best way to tell her the truth.

"He thinks it might be Stefan."

"Did Stefan do it?" Elena prompted.

"No. He was off on some island enjoying a mojito and blood cocktail."

"Then why would he think that-"

"I don't know," Damon said, effectively ending her worry streak as he placed a reassuring hand on the crook of her arm. "I set him straight."

Elena was silent for several minutes as each of them quietly laid in the bed, listening to the sounds out in the other room. It was a constant stream of noises and clatters that wouldn't be noticeable to a human ear, but was perfectly intelligible to a vampire with supernatural hearing that rivaled some of the world's best and brightest animals. Somewhere out there, Damon heard Alexandra chatter amiably with Stefan and Ric and Caroline, who was busy engaging her in a cooking session that sounded like it was going horribly wrong from the frustrated squeals the high-strung blond made.

"Caroline should give up cooking," Elena said, an amused smile pulling at the corners of her mouth.

"Well, you know what they say about blond's," Damon said, turning his easy smile on his girlfriend, and was rewarded with a not—too—soft slap to his upper arm, though his bicep masked most of the pain.

"Ouch," Damon said, pretending to sound and look offended, and topped the look off with one of his famous "puppy dog eye stares" that he gave her. It was a look he perfected when he either wanted something he could not have, or when he was trying to appease Elena.

"Then be nice," Elena reminded him firmly.

"Yes, ma'm."

They were silent for a minute as they each listened to the sounds of their own breaths that were perfectly in sync with one another, and the lighthearted sounds coming from the family room where everyone else was gathered.

"I know something happened," Elena said quietly, the sound of her voice making it clear that she was hesitant about bringing up this particular subject with him. "Back in the fifties," she clarified.

"What do you mean?" he asked, playing dumb until he absolutely could not.

What happened back in the fifties with being tortured and held captive for nearly five years, and then ultimately his escape from the scientific freaks who experimented on his body, was a bad blip in time that he had not ever wanted to revisit, but had no choice to now that Enzo was on the search for answers, and now Elena was pressing him to recall what happened.

"What happened, Damon?" she reiterated softly. "I know _something_ did."

"It wasn't anything I wanted to dredge up again. It's over and done with, and now I'm walking on sunshine again."

"Damon," she said, lowering her eyes at him the way she did when he felt as if she was stargazing right into his soul, shifting apart the various pieces until she found something to start her conversation off with. "You can tell me. Whatever happened, I want to know."

It was nearly impossible for him to resist giving her what she wanted when she captured his eyes with the kind of love and concern that showed him he had zero chance of winning the mini-standoff that had suddenly started between them.

"It was back in the fifties," Damon said, deciding that allowing her to share in his pain was much less burdensome than denying it had ever happened. "My relative, Joseph Salvatore called me over to the house, claiming that a family member had died."

He said the term loosely, clearly about to reveal something to Elena that she had no earlier inkling about.

"And then what happened?" she asked softly, as she placed a reassuring hand on his arm.

"The Augustine society was a secret one that operated under the guise of making sure that the bad, evil vampires," he said with a smirk, "were put to rest, or at least trained to repel the scent of human blood, and crave vampire blood instead. I was vervained before I could do anything to stop it."

"And then what?" Elena prodded when she could see Damon start to hesitate, as though he had reached a part of the story that was especially gut-wrenching to him.

"I was locked up like a prisoner for five freakin' years while they experimented on my body, gouging my eyes out and doing all sorts of horrific things that I honestly don't want to talk about," he said, trying to put a humorous spin on the subject he wanted closed and locked down.

"How did you—how did you escape?" Elena asked, clearly struggling to understand how it was even possible for a vampire to survive torture for five years, and even though vampires were built for endurance, she could not imagine something so awful continuing on for so long.

Damon sighed, looking down at his daylight ring for a distraction. "It happened and it's done, Elena, I don't really feeling like taking a walk down memory lane."

Especially when that 'memory lane' involved betraying Enzo in order to accomplish his escape plan, one they had worked on together, but had only come together in the worst of circumstances; ones that Damon was still struggling to comprehend.

"Okay," Elena said softly, obviously sensing that the conversation was over with. "Thank you for telling me what you did, Damon."

"Yeah, well, when you get in one of your moods for answers, it's kind of hard to shut you down."

"I'm sorry that you went through that," Elena said. "How could someone even _think_ about hurting you? How could someone want to harm you when you're such a good person?"

"Easy," Damon said flippantly. "People weren't as understanding about vampires as they are today, Elena."

"What about Stefan?" she asked, sitting up straighter. "Did he ever try to find you?"

"No," Damon said with a quick scoff, but Elena knew instantly that it was a cover to protect himself from revealing how much it hurt him that Stefan had never once tried to locate him. "He was too busy perfecting his hair, and deciding what mood he was going to be in for the next decade."

"I'm so sorry," Elena said softly, as she cuddled up to him as she placed her head on his strong, comforting chest, and felt a smile tug at her mouth when his arm automatically came to rest protectively around her back.

"Whatever. It's over and done with. I'm just glad it didn't go on any longer than it did-"

He was interrupted from finishing the rest of his sentence when the door to their bedroom was thrown open by their daughter. Her cheeks were coated in a thin covering of sugar from her cooking adventure with Caroline, as she plopped down on the bed in between her parents.

"Hey, sweet girl," Elena said. "Did you have fun cooking with Caroline and Stefan?"

"Yeah. Stefan and I did most of the cooking," Alexandra said, smiling once. "Caroline just flopped around the kitchen acting like she was a fish out of water."

"Did she finally give up on her cooking aspirations?" Damon asked, an mused look playing around his mouth.

"After Stefan pushed her away from the oven when the food almost caught on fire."

"Poor Caroline," Elena said with a small laugh. "How did you get sugar on your cheeks?"

"Caroline and I were trying to make the cookies, and I touched my face by accident. You want some, Daddy?" she asked, as she swept some off her face and smeared it on Damon's.

"Oh, yes," Damon said, with a small chuckle. "You look good enough to gobble up, Alexandra."

"Dad!"

"The truth hurts, doesn't it?" Damon said, a fake look of sympathy crossing over his face. "Where are they now?"

"They're still out there in the living room."

"He's probably trying to clean up _her_ mess," Damon said, shaking his head in amusement.

"What were you guys talking about?" Alexandra asked. "I heard you talking about something really scary."

"Like what?" Elena asked softly.

"Something that happened to Daddy," Alexandra said, her cherubic face downsizing into a frown as she looked at her father who she had formed such a strong bond with. "Something really scary."

"It was," Damon admitted, figuring there was no point in denying it to her when she had already managed to hear some of his story to Elena from the other room. "But it's over now."

"Why did those people hurt you?" Alexandra asked.

"I don't know," Damon admitted, "because they thought they were doing the world a great service by making sure all the horrible vamps were brainwashed."

"But it's over now, right?" Alexandra asked, as though she had to make sure for her own peace of mind.

"_Yes_," Damon said firmly, as he put some of the sugar on the tip of her nose. "You got something on your nose, by the way."

"Dad!"

* * *

With everything that had happened the day before, Damon was surprised he was able to obtain any meaningful sleep during the night with Elena, (and with Alexandra when her brutal nightmares reared their ugly head). The following day, for him, was all about scouting out some more answers about Maggie's murder so he could prepare himself to give a somewhat accurate confession to Enzo.

The first order of business was to stop by the local town archives and make sure that Stefan was as far from the crime scene as it was possible to be. Once he had been assured of his brother's shaky alibi, he left the town square with a heavy heart. It was one thing to confess to something like that, it was entirely different when he was presented with the task of informing Enzo about what his role in the whole thing was.

Pulling out his cellphone with a resigned sigh, he was just about to punch in the numbers to Enzo's phone when his friend beat him to it. His eyebrow arching in confusion, he placed the phone to his ear, readying himself for just about anything that Enzo would be coming up with now.

"What is it?" Damon asked, speaking into the phone as he got into his car.

_Hello, Damon. I actually managed to secure a bit of a breakthrough in my inquiries into who killed Maggie._

"Oh?" Damon said, trying to remain impassive as he started driving down the road. "What did you manage to dig up, buddy?"

_Well, I was looking through the records that I got from Caroline's mother, and I missed a crucial detail the first look-through._

"And what was that?" Damon asked carefully, feeling a dangerous sense of intuition that told him Enzo had stumbled upon something incriminating toward him, and the last thing he felt like doing was facing whatever consequences would result from it.

_On November 8th 1960, you were there, mate. You were in town the night Maggie was murdered. Some witnesses that I found who were related to the original Augustine members, said she sought out a Damon Salvatore for an interview. _

There was nothing in Enzo's voice but dead calmness, and Damon honestly was not sure what scared him more: that, or have him outwardly be furious and hurt that his girlfriend had died at his hands.

"Enzo," Damon said calmly. "I can explain everything, alright? But you and I need to-"

_What was it you told Elena? That I was in a bad place mentally, and I couldn't be trusted around she and your precious daughter? _

How did he know about the private conversations he and Elena had about him? How did he know that he expressed his worries to Elena about Enzo's current frame of mind?

"How did you know about that?" Damon demanded. "A mind-reader or something?"

_Not exactly, Damon._

A horrific thought crossed through Damon's mind, but he knew that it could not be true because that would mean Enzo had truly turned a corner for the worst, and had done something out of a twisted sense of revenge rather than just going to the source, to Damon first.

"Are you with her right now?"

He hoped the answer was no—he hoped that Enzo would tell him that it had slipped out of Elena's mouth when he stopped by the lake house. He hoped that Enzo had not tried to hurt Elena in some way, because he knew what would happen if that answer was true.

_Her and your precious daughter, _Enzo said. _I reckon one or both of them will be dead soon. Maybe you'll get a taste of what I went through when I found Maggie's decapitated corpse._

This was the worst possible outcome that Damon could have ever imagined having happen. Instead of finding a way to (gently) break the news that he had been the one to murder Maggie, Enzo had found that out on his own, and had taken matters into his own hands and to get even, took Elena and Alexandra.

"Whoa, whoa, Enzo," Damon said, fighting to keep his voice even and neutral so he wouldn't catapult his friend into another direction altogether. "Let's talk about this calmly and rationally, alright?"

_No time for that, mate. Got a murder to plan. _

"Enzo-"

_Got to go, Damon. _

The other line going dead, Damon threw his phone behind him as he turned his car around and headed in the opposite direction of where he had been going. He had an inkling as to where Enzo was keeping Elena and their daughter, and now his only thought was how he was going to safely defuse the situation before it got out of hand.


	29. Chapter 29

Damon was surprised he was able to keep a somewhat steady head as he drove down the town roads, looking for one building in particular where the GPS on his phone had tracked down Enzo's location, and where he was holding Elena and Alexandra.

Enzo finding out that he had been the one to murder Maggie without first getting a chance to tell him the truth of what happened, had been his biggest fear from the beginning, and the one outcome he never wanted to have happen, and now that it had, and Enzo had reacted in the wrong way by taking Elena and Alexandra, he knew he needed to find them before something catastrophic happened.

He knew the emotions that a vampire possessed—he had been privy to most of them over the ensuing century—and not all of them had been daisies and sunshine. Most of it had been a complete crapfest of the worst kind of guilt and far imaginable, the times Damon missed being human.

Some vampires felt grief in different stages of severity. With Enzo, he knew that his friend was only in the beginning stages of it because it had only been a few weeks since he learned the truth about the location of his girlfriend, and what had happened to her over fifty years previously.

It was horrible, and Damon knew that. It had been during a time when his humanity switch was still off, and he was on the lookout for any of the former Augustine members that might wander across his path. She had been an unfortunate victim, and one that Damon wished he could take back in that instant.

Pulling into the vacant motel parking lot with the older vehicle that Alaric had gifted him with to replace his beloved Camaro, he pulled into an empty parking space as he quietly stepped out of the car, taking care to walk up the outside steps carefully as he assessed the situation at hand.

He knew that Enzo had chosen this exact location because the lake house was out of the question with Alaric's storage room full of weapons, and any other location in town had too many witnesses to compel to forget the ugly showdown.

There, at the motel, was a perfect place to exact his twisted revenge against his ex-best friend. It made Damon sick to his stomach that Enzo had not only drawn Elena into a matter that should have been between them only, but had involved an innocent child in the matter, a child who had no control over what happened so many years previously.

Trying to control that innate part of him that wanted to charge into that room with both guns blazing, he instead settled for a calmer approach, not wanting to throw Enzo into a firestorm of rage that would result in nothing but a tragic outcome for all involved.

Taking a deep breath, he felt the smooth feel of the handle under his hand as he twisted it gently to admit himself into the darkened room that Enzo had been residing in for the past few days since his return to Virginia.

At first glance, he could immediately see Elena and Alexandra tied to identical chairs side-by-side. Vervain ropes held both of them in place, and it made Damon's heart bleed not only for Elena, but for his daughter who was too young to know that she was a pawn in a cruel form of punishment Enzo was torturing him with.

Giving Alexandra a small smile of comfort to let her know that everything was going to be okay, he turned to Elena and shook his head in complete incredulity at what had happened while he had been gone that afternoon. He had gone into town to get a few odds and ends they were missing at the lake house, and had instead missed a crucial opportunity to protect them when Enzo had broken in.

"Ah, Damon, good to see you, mate," Enzo said, as he stepped out from the shadows where he had been leaning against the wall, observing his friend's actions with detached interest. "It seems that your girl and your daughter have found themselves in a bit of a bind."

"Enzo," Damon said, fighting to keep his voice under control so he would not risk creating anymore problems than had already been started. "Why don't we all calm down a little bit and you can tell me what the hell the problem is."

"You already know what the problem is," Enzo said. "And according to the information this charming woman gave me, you've known about it for over fifty years. Long enough to know that when I was looking for her, you already knew what the hell happened to her."

Damon nodded, figuring there was no point in trying to steer him in a different direction when he already seemed to know everything that had happened that cold election night so many years ago. It was not anything he could take back, even though he wanted to.

"I wasn't sure if it was the same Maggie that you were talking about," Damon said carefully. "Once I was sure that it was her, I tried to figure out a way to tell you without any of this happening."

"Why did you kill her, Damon?" Enzo demanded, as he walked uncomfortably close to Elena and Alexandra.

"She was a reporter. She wanted me for an interview. Naturally, I was curious and I agreed to meet her. It didn't take her long before she tried to vervain me once she realized I was part of the fire that happened back in '58."

"And then you killed her," Enzo said, nothing in his voice but calm acceptance of that fact.

"I didn't even bat an eye," Damon admitted, "but my emotions were off, Enzo. I did a lot of terrible things back then. I didn't do it to make your life miserable! I did it because I didn't care!"

"You justify killing Maggie by telling me your emotions were off?"

"It was a crazy time, Enzo," Damon said, his acute eyes watching Enzo's every move as he paced around the room, sometimes walking nearer to Elena and Alexandra, and sometimes moving closer to Damon, as though he was contemplating who he should kill first. "I'm sorry. I wish I could take it back, but I _can't_."

"Through all of that torture," Enzo said, and Damon was stunned to see his friend's eyes momentarily fill with tears before they disappeared as quickly as they had come. "She was the hope I held onto for a life that didn't involve having my bloody body experimented on, and being starved! Tell me you don't remember what that was like, Damon!"

"Yes, Enzo," Damon said, "I understand what you are telling me. I get it that she was the one person that gave you hope and a chance at a better future. I get it! But this is between you and me, this has nothing to do with Elena and my daughter. You want to hate me? Fine. But don't drag them into it."

"That's the problem, Damon. If I hate you, then I have nothing left."

"Then why don't you calm down," Damon suggested. "Why don't you calm down and we can talk this over instead of you holding my girlfriend and daughter hostage."

There was no way he would be able to think straight to do what he had to do to get through to Enzo, when his eyes were constantly drawn to the sight of his girlfriend and daughter being tied with ropes. It was sickening, especially when he looked at Alexandra, at her tear-soaked face, and at Elena, who kept shooting him glances, as though hoping that she would be able to communicate with him that way.

"Speaking of your daughter," Enzo said, as he picked up a beer bottle and smashed it against the wall.

Bits of glass fell at Damon's feet, but he hardly noticed as he looked at his friend with his eyebrows raised in clear question. "My daughter _what_?" This was not good, and he knew it. If Enzo had some misguided information on his daughter that he would use against him, it would only increase the danger level that was already at breaking volume.

"Do you know who her parents were?"

"No," Damon said, drawing a complete blank. "They were murdered by a vampire the same night she was turned."

"Her parents were former Augustine members," Enzo said. "I heard they were returning to their posts at Whitmore, and I decided to drop in to offer my opinion on the matter."

"_You_?" Damon demanded. "You were the one who killed her family?"

"Wasn't that our pact, Damon? Or did your damn heart get in the way of that deal?"

"Enzo, do you realize that you were responsible for turning her," he said, pointing at Alexandra. "Into a vampire? What the hell is the matter with you-"

"No, what the hell is the matter with _you_, Damon? You knew what happened to Maggie, and yet you never bothered to clue me in? And now you're deciding to go all soft because she's a kid?"

"I understand your need for revenge-"

"Wasn't that the deal we made?" Enzo pressed. "To kill every last member of that bloody organization?"

"Yes," Damon said with a defeated sigh, as he looked over at Elena, giving her a subtle shake of his head that let her know he would explain everything to her later. "But I wouldn't kill a family with a child, Enzo!"

If this was true what Enzo was saying, he realized with a hollow feel in the pit of his stomach that he did not really know his friend as well as he thought he did. For Enzo to go into a home and kill a family with a child, and then turn that child into a vampire, would have to be the actions of a cruel and heartless vampire, and that was exactly what Enzo had done to get even with the society.

"It doesn't matter," Enzo said flippantly, brushing away Damon's outrage. "She would have turned into one of them in another decade or two. I just beat you to the feast is all I did."

"Why did you turn her?" Damon asked, looking over at Alexandra who was staring at him with her expressive blue eyes, silently pleading with him to rescue her.

"I figured it was time to get even with them, figured they would have one less member operating if one of their own offspring got turned."

"So you did this because of some sick game?"

"Oh, it wasn't a game, mate, this was all serious to me."

Damon shook his head. "Listen, Enzo, I understand you're hurting, I understand that you're feeling the entire rainbow of horrific emotion right now, but you need to let them go. You need to untie them and let them go free so we can talk this over."

Enzo ignored him as he walked over to stand beside in between Elena and Alexandra's chairs. Damon tried to focus on him, and not on the way that Alexandra bucked almost frantically against her ropes when she saw Enzo approach her. It made his gut twist sickeningly as he forced himself to remain calm for the sake of their safety.

"What's the saying, Damon? An eye for an eye? A tooth for a tooth? Maybe if I kill the people that mean the most to you, you'll finally get an understanding of what it felt like to learn that the love of your life was savagely murdered."

Damon shook his head, his eyes meeting Elena's panicked ones as they shot each other a look that clearly wondered what the other was planning on doing to avoid a fatal catastrophe. It was completely impossible for Damon, and he knew that it would take more than a few well-placed words for Enzo to come to his senses.

"Enzo, I don't care what you're feeling for me right now," Damon said, "but you do not punish Elena and Alexandra for something that they had no part in. Do you get that at all?"

"I understand perfectly what you're implying, but consider this a lesson that you need to learn. Maybe it will give you something to think over the next time you go to stab one of your friends in the back."

"Enzo-"

Without any warning on his part, Enzo approached Alexandra and punched his fist in her chest, taking hold of her heart without pulling it out quite yet, a move that would be fatal to the ten-year-old child who's eyes widened in complete terror as she looked at Damon, tears squeezing out of her eyes as she looked at her father.

"D—Daddy!" she sobbed, struggling against the ropes as she looked at Damon to help her, something he was incapable of doing without potentially pushing Enzo over the edge. "H—help me. He's hurting me!"

It broke Damon's heart clean in two to see her in such a horrific position when she didn't deserve it. Enzo was upset and to punish Damon, was going after the people he loved. If Damon hadn't been concerned about Alexandra's safety, he would have staked him right there and then.

"Let her go!" Elena ordered through gritted teeth.

"Nothing personal. Just trying to make a point to your boyfriend."

He twisted his hand further into Alexandra's chest cavity, causing her to move even more desperately against her restraints, as Damon tried to think of a way in which he would get Enzo to let her go without causing further harm to her.

"Enzo," Damon said. "I understand that you're mad. I do. But this is wrong, and you know it! She is an innocent child, and you are putting something on her that she had nothing to do with!"

"Maybe you'll finally get an idea of what this feels like, Damon," Enzo replied, as he turned his head over his shoulder to look at his old friend. "Because Maggie didn't deserve what happened to her, either."

"I understand that. I am sorry. In what language do you want me to convey that to you? She is innocent in all of this. You putting her through this is just cruel."

"What was it you told me back at the bar?" Enzo asked rhetorically. "That you would tear the throat out of whoever turned your daughter into a vampire? Then go on, kill me. I assure you you'd be doing me a favor."

"As it stands right now," Damon said, "you can walk away from this without an issue. If you hurt her, all bets are off and I _will_ kill you. Do you understand me?"

"Daddy-" Alexandra started, but cut herself off abruptly when she choked on a sob that built its way up through her throat.

"Alexandra," Damon said, "don't move, sweetheart. If you move, you might make it worse."

He knew that if she moved the wrong way, she could end up dislodging her heart from its position, and would be killed just from that move. As he watched her, he could see that she was trying to settle herself down as she looked at her mother for reassurance, which she gave to her with a quick whisper of a word that Damon could not hear.

"Through all the years of searching for her killer, I fantasized about making them pay for the crime they committed. Never once did I imagine that it was my own friend that was standing guilty."

"She was your hope," Damon said slowly. "And I killed that. If you want to kill me, then kill me, but you let them go first."

"What?" Elena said, lifting her head to look at her boyfriend in a mixture of both panic and confusion. "Damon, no-" she was cut off from her statement when he met her gaze with one of his steady ones, letting her know that he had everything under control.

"Kill you?" Enzo said. "Now, wouldn't it serve to be more appropriate if I took two of the people that mean the most to you out of this world?"

"No," Damon said, "because I know you're not that person, Enzo. You're not a cruel person. That's more me, if you want the truth of it, but that's not you. Wasn't it you who reminded me what it was like to keep my humanity? Wasn't it you who kept reminding me at a tediously annoying rate that I was lucky to have family and a brother?"

"So what?"

"Then you should know better than to take it from me. You're angry, I get it. I would be too. But if you want true justice for Maggie, than you kill me and leave them out of it."

Behind him, he could see Alexandra's struggles die down, but she was still hurting, still terrified of what was happening to her, and Damon could not blame her. It was scary enough having a vampire take hold of your heart while you were an adult, but with a child, he could not imagine the mental anguish she was going through.

"Alright," Enzo said, as he finally removed his fist from Alexandra's chest. Damon watched closely as the wound that had been created on her chest, heal almost the instant the source of the injury was removed. "You're right."

"No, Damon," Elena started to say. "Leave him alone!"

"Don't worry, love, I'll make his death as painless as possible. Unlike the pain he put Maggie through before he eventually killed her," he said.

Damon shook his head, forcing himself to stand upright as he faced his former best-friend. "Thank you, Enzo." At least he had gotten Enzo to let go of his girlfriend and daughter, and whatever happened after that, would be fine with him because he was being guaranteed their protection.

"I didn't do this for you. I did it for Maggie. I reckon she wouldn't want me to become a killer just for you."

"Well, you're probably right," Damon said, as he watched closely as Enzo walked closer and closer to him until they were standing only inches from each other. Looking over Enzo's shoulder, he saw Elena and Alexandra watching and listening to everything that was being said by the two vampires.

"I hope her death was worth it for you," Enzo said.

"I assure you, it wasn't," Damon said, as he reached for the stake that had been hidden behind him in his jeans, and plunged it in Enzo's stomach. "You have one final chance to leave, or I'll remove this stake and put it through your heart."

Enzo gasped, writhing under the intense pressure of the stake that was digging into his internal organs as he looked at Damon. "Classy to the end, mate."

"What's that?" Damon said, playing dumb.

"I won't ever let go, Damon. I'll make your life a living hell!"

"That's fine," Damon said, as he took the stake out of its original place in his stomach, and plunged it into his heart. "Then you leave me no choice," he finished, as he watched Enzo's face turn a sickening gray, before collapsing to the ground.

Giving himself only a moment to register the fact that he killed his best friend, he turned back to Elena and Alexandra, and immediately went over to their sides as he reached for the ropes that were binding Alexandra to the chair. Ignoring the horrific burning sensation that was a result of the vervain on the ropes, he cut them without a problem, before turning to his girlfriend.

It was a relief to him that he had managed to get them out of a situation that had rapidly gotten out of hand, and even though he had wanted to save Enzo and make him see sense, he knew that his thirst for revenge, had been stronger than the morals he had instilled in him through all the years of torture they had gone through.

"Daddy," Alexandra cried, opening her arms to him as Damon lifted her up without a second thought, wrapping his arms around her as she settled her head on his shoulder.

"Are you okay?" Damon whispered, as his hand moved slowly down the length of her head.

"Yes," Alexandra sniffled. "Is he-" she asked, twisting around in Damon's arms to see the body that laid at their feet.

"Yeah," Damon said softly, forcing himself to look away from the sight before him. "Elena, are you-"

"I'm fine," she finished for him, as she wrapped her arms around his waist, hugging him close. "You saved us, Damon."

Even though it had been his actions from years before that had indirectly resulted in them being taken hostage, she did not place the blame squarely on his shoulders. She had questions about the types of accusations Enzo had hurled at Damon, but she knew those could wait until they were safely back home.

"Don't be too enthralled," Damon reminded her. "I still had my part in this."

"I know that," she said, shaking her head in disbelief. "But we'll talk about it later, okay?"

He nodded. "Okay."

"Let's go home."


	30. Chapter 30

The walk out to the car was one of the longest of Damon's life as he hugged Alexandra tightly against his body, the little girl refusing to let go of him as he carried her down the outside flight of stairs and to the used car Ric had given him. Her arms wrapped tightly around his neck, he was beginning to wonder if she had fallen asleep out of pure exhaustion, when she stirred slightly in his arms when he shifted her weight to unlock the car.

"Dad?" she asked, her soft voice coming up just an octave higher as she raised her head to capture his face in one of her magnetic stares. "Am I safe now?" the way she said it, as if she honestly doubted whether or not the danger had really passed or not, now that Enzo was dead, and the immediate threat had subsided.

It broke Damon's heart clean in two as he bent down to place her in the backseat. "_Yes_," he replied firmly, kissing her forehead. "You're safe now, Alexandra."

"Is Enzo really dead?"

Damon nodded. "He is. I had no choice, sweetheart."

Enzo had made it perfectly clear that he refused to allow Damon to walk out of the motel room a free man, and would instead make his life a living hell as a form of payback for his unintentional murder of his girlfriend. It had pained Damon to shove the stake through his heart, but he had done so out of a deep rooted sense of protection for his family, and there was nothing he would change about that.

"I know you didn't," she said, sniffling as she used the sleeve of her jacket to wipe away the fresh flow of tears that seemed bound and determined to make their appearance known. "Why did he want to hurt us, though?"

"He wanted to hurt _me_," Damon said softly. "He thought that by taking out the people I cared about the most, I would end up getting a taste of what he went through with Maggie."

Alexandra nodded, seeming to take his words to heart as she curled up against the door frame when Damon gently closed the door, before taking the drivers seat. He watched carefully as Elena slid in beside him, closing the door with a quiet snap as they started back down the near-empty roads back toward the lake house.

The sun had started to dip below the horizon in the time since they had been taken, and now. The sky was a rainbow of different colors, creating a calming effect on their daughter, who gazed out the window eagerly, momentarily forgetting about the horrifying afternoon she had just went through.

"The sky is so pretty," she remarked, as she stared enthralled at the myriad of colors that played across the sky in front of her.

"I used to love looking out the window," Elena said, turning her head briefly to look in the general direction of her daughter. "When I was little like you, my Mom used to take me outside to stargaze."

"Really?" Alexandra said, turning around in her seat to look at her mother. "That's so cool!"

"She taught me all the constellations," Elena recalled. "By the time I was your age, I was pretty good at studying the stars and learning something from it."

"My old Mom used to teach me how to craft stuff. She liked making scrapbooks and making other photo album type stuff."

Elena nodded, adjusting her position in the seat as she subconsciously reached her hand over to lay her hand on top of Damon's, needing the close proximity almost as much as she needed air at that moment, as they turned on the private road that led directly to the lake house.

"She liked doing that, too. She always used to want to collect memories of all of us. I never really understood why until she was...gone," Elena said, her eyes involuntarily tearing over at the thought of her parents, and how they were missing out on being grandparents, and seeing their daughter's family thrive.

She was comforted when Damon squeezed her hand in reassurance. Even though she hated to show weakness, especially in the face of the danger she had just stared down, she could not help it when the memories assaulted her conscience like a freight train of grief and renewed mourning.

"Stefan told me that memories are too important to lose," Alexandra said, recalling the words of wisdom her uncle had gifted her with recently.

"He told me that once, too," Elena said. "He's a nostalgic person. He likes to collect things from his past, and store them up for later reference."

It was a habit of his that had been on full display while they were still dating. His room was a tribute to the years past he had spent as a vampire that was showcased in his now destroyed journals. Before, she used to remember feeling fascinated that one person could amass such a remarkable life, and remember to recall it in perfect detail for his journal entries.

"And then brood over them, and decide if his so-called "mistakes" were so severe that he had to lock himself up as a sick form of punishment," Damon said, a fake look of sympathy crossing over his face, even though Elena knew it was a mask as to how he really felt about his brother's struggles.

"Stop," Elena said, shaking her head.

"What?" Damon said defensively. "I was being honest."

"Well, your honesty, needs to take a backseat," Elena said, attempting to look irritated, but not entirely able to pull off the effect as she crossed her arms over her chest for extra emphasis.

"Oh, come on, pouty," Damon chided. "At least I am teaching our daughter back there, the noble art of truthfulness."

"Uh-uh," Elena said, not entirely convinced.

"My teacher," Alexandra said, "used to say that a lie was like a bruise to the soul. What does that mean?"

"It means that she seriously needs to learn how to talk to a fourth grader," Damon said, rolling his eyes as he pulled into the driveway of their home, which was blocked off by a few privacy trees that he was grateful for in that instant.

Even though hardly anyone wandered across the Gilbert family lake house, it was still nice to feel secluded in that instant as he tried to figure out a way to heal the wounds both physical and emotional that Enzo had left behind in his wake. Getting out of the car, he paused briefly, bowing his head as though the entire weight of the world rested on his shoulders, before going around to the other side of the car, and opening it for Alexandra, who seemed to forget the teasing she had just engaged in with her parents, and was now feeling nervous again.

"Are you okay?" Elena asked, walking around to her daughter's side as she hugged her close against her body. "Hmm?"

"I—I'm okay," Alexandra replied softly as they walked up the porch steps and in through the house where it was mostly quiet except for the soft clatters in the living room that were obviously Stefan and Caroline or Bonnie doing something. To her knowledge, they didn't have any inkling as to what they had all gone through.

"Good," Damon said. "We'll get you cleaned up and then we'll lie down and take a rest, alright?"

Alexandra nodded; she was exhausted even though she would never admit that fact out loud to herself. It was a sign of weakness, something she did not like to show, but in the presence of her family, she felt just a little bit more comfortable expressing it.

"Hey," Stefan said, looking up from the board game he was playing with Caroline and Bonnie. "Where were you guys?"

"Oh, you know," Damon said breezily. "Went out grocery shopping, and then had to convince my crazed ex-best friend to let go of my girlfriend and our daughter because he went on an insane revenge bend."

The look on Stefan's face would have been comical had the circumstances not been so desperate. The last thing any of them had expected to have happen, would be for Enzo to react the way he had when he found out the truth about Maggie's death, and even though Damon should have realized what would happen, he had been foolish to believe that Enzo would let them sort it out for themselves.

"What happened?" Stefan asked, trading identical looks of shock with Caroline, who wisely remained quiet as she focused her attention on her friend and Alexandra.

"He-" Damon hesitated, clearly not wanting to keep reliving everything that had been said in that motel room, and while he knew it was unavoidable, especially in a house full of people who had questions about the accusations thrown at him, he would have liked to have forgotten it. "He knows that I killed his girlfriend, Maggie."

"_You_ were the one who killed her?" Stefan asked, pointing at Damon, his eyebrows raised in clear surprise as he looked at his older brother. "After you set the killing up to look like _I_ had done it?"

Even though he and Damon had spent most of those fifty years apart, he had watched the news, had seen the coverage surrounding such a publicized murder, and knew that the killer had set up the attack to look as though he had done it, instead of the other way around.

"Well, you know," Damon said, reaching a hand down to stroke Alexandra when she glued herself to his side. "You and I were on the outs, and when you didn't bother to come find me, let's just say, there was a little leftover resentment."

"So what happened to Enzo?" Stefan prodded. "Did he leave?"

Stefan had only met Enzo once or twice, and did not really have an opinion on him either way. He had no idea that Enzo was on a mission to avenge his girlfriend's death, and that his brother turned out to be the one responsible for it.

"No," Damon said, shaking his head. "He refused to let go of it, and I had to stake him."

It pained him to do it, especially when they had been through so much together, but he knew that if it was a choice between his family and his friend, the choice was clear to him, and nothing would change that. He had crossed the line when he involved Elena and Alexandra in the situation, and him refusing to abandon it, was the last nail in his coffin.

"But are you guys okay?" Caroline asked, walking over to Elena to give her a hug, before turning to Alexandra.

"Yeah," Elena said, nodding her head confidently, though almost everyone around her knew that it was an act so that no one would see how much the afternoon had affected her. "I'm okay."

"Good," Caroline said. "What's the blood on Alexandra's shirt?" She had just noticed the faint red tinge that colored the child's shirt.

"She," Damon said, taking a deep breath, as he kneeled down in front of his daughter to make sure she didn't have any residual wounds from her experience. "Enzo almost tore her heart out."

"He _what_?" Stefan demanded incredulously. "Why?"

"Because he was a dick," Damon said bluntly, as he finished his light examination of his daughter. "He wanted to punish me like I was five, and take something from me that I loved."

He could hardly bear to imagine what would be happening now if he had come back to the lake house without his daughter and Elena with him. It was too horrifying to imagine, and he knew the only vice that would ease a hole like that, would be to drown himself in either blood or alcohol, sometimes both.

"How did you convince him to back off?" Caroline wondered, as she wrapped her arms around her substitute niece. "Stake him?"

"No, that came after. If I had done that while he still had her, he would have pulled her heart out anyway when he collapsed. I made him believe he could kill me if he let go of her, and of course I was lying through my pointy teeth."

Elena shook her head, biting the top of her thumb as she tried to rid her mind of the horrific events of the past several hours. The last thing she expected to have happen, was for Enzo to come and take she and her daughter, and without even revealing what the source of his anger was until Damon had come to their rescue.

She still had questions for Damon, about the types of accusations Enzo had assaulted him with, but for the moment she allowed herself to feel content with the fact that Damon had saved them, that he had saved their daughter, and they were back home where they belonged.

"So what now?" Elena asked, broaching the kind of topic that seemed to go unsaid for the people in the room, but was now a pressing concern for her as she stared around at the group. "If the Other Side is down, does that mean his foothold as a ghost, will be gone?"

"Yes," Bonnie said, speaking for the first time as she got up to address her friend. "The Other Side's power disappeared along with the plane. I suppose they might still have a foothold, but it won't be nearly as strong as it was before."

"Okay." Elena knew she would have to let that answer suffice for the time being. "I think we're going to go and lay down. It's been a long afternoon." She was exhausted, but the adrenaline from what had happened, had masked most of her tiredness until then.

"Okay," Caroline said. "I'm glad you guys are all safe."

"Thanks, Care."

* * *

Elena was relieved to retreat to the relative privacy of the bedroom she shared with Damon. Alexandra's room was right next to theirs, but she did not want to entertain the idea of sleeping alone when she already had endured so much trauma that day.

"Can I sleep in here with you guys?" Alexandra asked, as she watched the two of them get ready to lay down for a well-deserved break.

"Of course you can," Elena said, as she selected some pajamas for her daughter to wear. "Do you want to wear these?" she asked, holding up a pair of Disney-themed tops and bottoms, "or something else?"

"No," Alexandra said, as she carefully inspected the clothing options that were presented to her, reminding Elena of Caroline in that department. "These ones are good."

"Okay," Elena said, handing them to her.

Watching carefully as her daughter disappeared into the adjoining bathroom, Elena sighed as she got their bed ready for their occupation.

"Do you think she's okay?" Damon asked quietly.

"Yeah," Elena said with a nod. "I don't think what happened to her is going to go away anytime soon, but I think she survived through the worst."

Damon nodded; the one thing he was not able to get over was the fact that Enzo, as furious as he was, put a child through unimaginable torment, both mentally and physically in order to get revenge on his friend for what he had done.

"I'm sorry, Elena."

It was such an inconsequential word in comparison to what happened, but it was the only word that was available in his vocabulary that even came close to expressing the remorse that he felt for what happened.

"Hey," Elena said, shaking her head as she wrapped her arms around his neck, drawing him in closer. "This was not your fault, Damon. I mean, maybe indirectly, but you didn't ask him to do any of what he did to us."

Damon nodded, even though Elena could tell he did not believe it himself, and was only nodding to appease her to avoid having one of her infamous speeches thrown at him about the importance of self-worth, and how much he was loved.

He listened, but she knew the problem was not her hammering him over the head about it but the conundrum he had of actually believing it about himself.

They were saved the task of further discussing it when the door to the bathroom opened again, and Alexandra came back out, dressed in her cozy pajamas as she walked around her parents to climb into the bed, getting the best spot before they could lay down next to her.

"Can I use one of my blankets?" Alexandra asked, as she turned her bright and expressive eyes on her parents.

"Sure," Elena said with a smile, already moving toward her child's bedroom. "Which one do you want?"

"The Tangled one."

"You got it."

One of the first purchases Elena had made for her new daughter, was to get her some blankets that she would actually love and want to use, and the movie _Tangled _was one of Alexandra's favorites.

While they waited for Elena to return with the requested blanket, Damon walked over to the DVD player in the room, and put the actual movie in for her to enjoy.

"You want to watch this?" Damon asked, as if there was any doubt in his mind.

"Yes!" Alexandra said, bouncing up and down on the bed.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Damon asked, cupping his hand beside his ear as though he could not understand her.

"I said yes!" Alexandra said with a laugh.

"Okay, okay," Damon said with a playful sigh as he finally pressed the PLAY button.

"Thank you, daddy."

"You're welcome, princess," Damon said, as he laid down next to her. "You feeling a little bit better?"

"Yeah."

"Okay."

When Elena returned with her blanket, the three of them settled in to watch the animated feature before Alexandra passed out from sheer exhaustion. Damon could not blame her, he was feeling exhausted too, but he knew that this would be one of the only times Elena would have to bring about some of the questions she had.

"Damon," Elena began, turning over on her side to face her boyfriend. "Was there any truth to what Enzo said back there?"

Damon did not answer at first, as he tried to find a way to stall the inevitable answer he would have to give her that would, essentially, back up exactly what Enzo had accused him of back in the motel room.

"We were tortured for five years, Elena," Damon said, starting his story. "By the time I escaped, I was angry that I had gone through what I had, and I started plotting revenge."

"And what did that revenge entail?" Elena asked slowly, as though trying to connect the pieces in her mind so they would make sense.

"Nothing but the basics: tracking down the members of the Augustine family and murdering them. That was the deal Enzo and I made together. When I would kill them," Damon said, swallowing back roughly. "I would leave one generation alive so the line would continue."

Elena didn't say anything for several seconds as she instead focused on Alexandra, and the steady way her chest moved as she slept deeply. She needed that rest more than anything, and Elena was grateful her mind was allowing her that brief reprieve from reality.

"What about Maggie?"

"I killed her because she wanted me for an interview. I went, not expecting it to be anything but someone hearing my name spoken through the town I was in. When I got there, she charmed the pants off me, not literally," he added, seeing her start to react, "but when we got right down to the nitty gritty, she was a former Augustine."

"The one that Enzo loved."

"Right."

"About Alexandra," Elena said, her voice tightening. "Her family. Would you have killed them, Damon? If you had been there?"

"I...I wouldn't have done it with her there."

"But you would have killed them sooner or later?"

"I can't promise you I wouldn't have," Damon said.

"Okay."

"Are you-" he was not sure whether or not he wanted to know what was happening inside her brain. He knew the righteousness that possessed his girlfriend, but he was not sure what part of her would be willing to either forgive or condemn him for the revenge he had enacted on the organization.

"I don't know what to think right now, Damon," she replied, facing him finally. "I _know_ that I love you and want to be with you, but everything that you just told me? I don't know how to process it."

"I'm confused," Damon said honestly. "Are we okay or not?"

Elena shook her head, a single tear sliding down her face before coming to rest in her mouth. This was a position that she never wanted to be in with him, and what Enzo had told her and what Damon had confessed, left her feeling upset, but also confused.

She knew she loved him. That was indisputable to her, but the other emotions she was feeling, were all blurring together until she could not pick them apart anymore.

"I don't know."

Damon nodded. "I'm sorry, Elena."

"Hey, you don't have anything to be sorry about. If it wasn't for you, we might be dead by now."

"Are we over?"

He had to know what to expect, and he had to know what he should be feeling. It pained him to imagine anything changing in his relationship with Elena because of something he had done so long ago, something that he regretted with every fiber in his being.

"I don't know, Damon."

"Just for what it's worth," Damon said, his voice tight. "I love you more than anything in this universe, and I love our daughter the same way."

"And I love you. That won't change, regardless of anything else."


	31. Chapter 31

Elena could hardly find it within herself to sleep that night. She was not sure if it was a result of the confusion that clogged her brain, making it impossible to think straight, or the fact that her brain refused to grant her peace from the images it kept showing her of Damon, and the conversation they had that had resulted in her being even more conflicted about the status of their relationship.

It was not so much the fact that he had killed Maggie. It had been an accident that she had turned out to be Enzo's girlfriend and he wanted revenge for the fact that she was taken from him. It was the idea of him going around behind her back and murdering innocent people who had no part in what happened to him so many years previously.

The fact that he had thought he needed to keep that from her for so long without mentioning it, was troubling to her. She did not want to feel like this, she did not want to feel any doubt in her relationship and her love for this man, but she could not control how her heart felt and the uncertainty that was now darkening it as she turned over on her side, toward Damon, who had still remained in the bed with her, despite her telling him she wasn't sure if they were "over" or not.

He looked innocent in sleep, as though all the worries that put a damper on his spirit during the day, were swept away with the approach of rest. His mouth quirked into a smile, obviously in response to a pleasant dream he had just experienced, and even though she was unsure about a lot, it brought a smile to her own face as she watched it.

It was not often that she saw Damon relaxed during the day, and when she had an opportunity to watch him during the night, it was a fascinating experience for her, a chance to look inside the soul that she had fallen in love with a long time ago, but what he kept closed off for the most part.

Laying back on her back, she looked over at her other side and saw Alexandra still deeply in the throes of sleep, oblivious to the inner turmoil that her mother and father were now going through as they tried to figure out their relationship, and where it went from there.

When the first rays of sun finally broke out over the sky outside, Elena was secretly relieved. During the night, she had managed to obtain little to no sleep, and had only fallen asleep during the early morning hours when there was almost no point to it anymore.

Stifling a yawn behind her hand, she looked over at Damon and saw him watching her, clearly surprised she had elected to stay in the same bed as he was, instead of moving to one of the guest rooms that was still open for her use.

"Hey," Damon whispered, his voice still rough from lack of use during the night.

"Hey back," Elena whispered, a small smile creeping across her face in spite of herself, even though she was supposed to be contemplating their future together, it was hard to think about those serious issues when he was right there in front of her.

"You can't do that," Damon said, as he threw the covers back and got out of bed first, reaching for his shirt as he effortlessly fitted it over his toned body.

"I can't do what?" Elena asked, nothing but confusion coloring her tone as she scooted to the end of the bed, before standing up to follow his progression around the bedroom.

"Smile and act like everything is rosy when you know damn well you're not even sure you want to be with me or not," Damon said, and even though his tone was was brash, Elena was shocked to discover the hurt that colored his tone, even though he tried his hardest to mask it.

"Look," Elena said, shaking her head in complete confusion of the complexity of the emotions that were swirling around inside her head. "I know that things are kind of weird between us right now, but can you try to be patient with me?"

Damon shook his head, but did not comment for several minutes as he finally finished getting dressed. This was not a feeling Elena was used, the feeling of feeling awkward around someone that she should feel the most comfortable with out of everyone. It was new territory that she had to cross, new land she had yet to conquer.

"You want me to be patient while your toxic righteousness wars with you while you decide whether or not you want to fight for me and for this family," he said, gesturing to a still sleeping Alexandra, "or if you want to pull the invisible plug because of something that happened _so_ many years ago."

It was one of the most infuriating things about Elena. She had a heart of gold and routinely showed that to her boyfriend, to her daughter, and to her friends, but when her self-righteousness got in the way of something great and she ended up unintentionally casting someone in the hot seat, whether or not it was actually deserved.

"Damon," Elena said, as she walked out of the bedroom so they would not end up waking Alexandra up with their harsh words. "It's not just about that. You know that-"

"What I _know_," Damon said, stopping midway between the kitchen and their bedroom. "Is that you don't even care that I killed those people. You care that I lied to you about it."

Elena did not say anything because she knew it to be partially true. She knew that she did not place the blame on him entirely for going on a murder spree over the ensuing years, but that what bothered her was that he had elected to keep something that huge from her when it was clearly still a hot issue.

"It doesn't matter, Damon," Elena said. "You should have told me about this before I had to find out from Enzo."

"So," Damon said, lowering his tone when they walked out into the kitchen, which was already occupied with Caroline and Stefan. "You're going to let a blip of something bad ruin the good that we've accomplished? Sounds about right."

Whenever something seemed to go right for them, it was usually only a matter of time before something happened that pushed them back even further than they had come before. It was frustrating to Damon, who had known the cruelest parts of the world without Elena, and now that he was being faced with an unfair breakup, it was maddening.

"It's not something little, Damon," Elena reminded him. "Can we not talk about this right now?"

"Yeah, of course," Damon said. "You makes the rules, Elena, as always."

Ignoring him for the time being, she walked around the counter to prepare breakfast for her daughter. Alexandra was still used to the sustenance of human food to nourish her body, which had been forever halted at the tender age in which she had been turned. At ten, the idea of relying on blood to provide her nutritional needs, was repulsive and something she resisted with all her might, but was eventually forced to consider when it was put in front of her.

"Hey," Caroline said, coming up to the counter where Elena was pouring some blood into a cup for Alexandra, the only way she would agree to take the blood. "What's up with you guys?" she asked, looking back at Damon, who was forcefully ignoring her looks as she looked back at her friend.

"Just a little fight," Elena said, keeping her head down so her friend would not see just how much her uncertainty and confusion was hurting her as she finished getting the food ready, and put it at the table at her daughter's place.

"Is it serious?" Caroline whispered, looking over at Damon, who was keeping his eyes off both of them as he conversed politely with Ric and Stefan.

"I don't know yet. Can we have some girl talk later?" Elena asked, needing the emotional security of knowing she would have her best friend to shoot off all her concerns about, and trust to be diplomatic, and have sound judgment about it.

"Of course!" Caroline said, as though the implication that they could not, was the most ridiculous thing in the world to her.

"Thanks."

She was spared the task of thinking about it more when Alexandra ambled her way into the room, clearly up and ready to start her day as she instantly took her seat next to her dad. Even though they were fighting, Elena still marveled at how Damon was able to put it behind him, at least on the surface, so the tension wouldn't reach their daughter.

Deciding to take a cue out of his book, she went over to the table and leaned down to give her child a tight hug.

"Morning, sweet girl," Elena whispered. "Did you sleep good?"

Alexandra nodded, too preoccupied with her food to answer at first, while she waited to swallow. "Yeah, I slept good."

"Did you have good dreams?" Elena asked, as she ran a brush through her unwilling, tangle-ridden hair.

"I dreamed..." Alexandra trailed off thoughtfully as she tried to remember what her dreams had entailed. "I dreamed about unicorns and fairies."

"Is that _really_ what you dreamed about?" Damon asked, inserting himself into the conversation.

"Yes," Alexandra said, rolling her eyes. "Why would I lie?"

"Oh, I have no idea," Damon said, shaking his head. "You have to drink the blood, kiddo."

Alexandra shook her head stubbornly, refusing to take the blood that would be a huge source of support to her both mentally and physically, as she looked at the toast that Elena had laid down beside her. Even though she no longer needed food to survive, she was far too used to the food to give up on it now.

"I don't like it," she said, her bottom lip jutting out in an adorable pout that she used to her advantage when she was trying to make a point with one or both of her parents.

"I know you don't," Damon said softly, "but it helps you. Just like milk does."

"But the only _difference_," she pointed out, using her sassy tone that she reserved for when she was trying to prove a point. "Is that milk tastes good, but blood tastes like it rolled in garbage."

Damon could not argue her point, and did not try to. Instead he picked up the cup and held it out for her, knowing she needed it to help curb her cravings, and get the nourishment she needed. "Just one big gulp, okay?"

Alexandra did not react immediately, and Damon knew she was weighing her options carefully, before finally picking up the cup and draining the entire thing in one big gulp like she had been instructed. Smiling softly, Damon took the cup away as he set it off to the side.

"Good girl," Damon praised.

"Why are you guys fighting?" Alexandra asked, directing her attention to her Mom and Dad.

Even though she had pretended to be asleep while their argument was happening, she heard every nasty thing that was said between her parents, and it hurt her. Her own parents had been in a happy marriage, but with her new parents, this was the first time she had ever heard them fight before, and it disturbed her.

"Who said we were fighting?" Elena asked, as she got her things ready to go on the drive with Caroline.

"I heard you saying really mean stuff to each other," she admitted quietly.

"Listen," Damon said. "Yes, we're in a fight right now, but it will be okay, I promise you. It will work out one way or another."

He did not want to imagine a world that did not involve Elena and the family they had managed to create together with Alexandra. It did not seem right that he could return from the literal dead, and then have to face the fallout of actions that had taken place years before.

"You promise?" she asked uncertainly.

"I _promise_," Damon said firmly. "You have nothing to worry about."

Alexandra seemed to choose to believe him, and nodded, though that look of worry she had on her face, did not entirely leave her face as she quietly ate the rest of her food.

"Damon," Elena said, once she was about ready to leave with Caroline. "Care and I are going to head out."

"Okay," he said, as he got up to follow her outside.

"I know that we're in this limbo as far as it concerns our relationship," Elena began, while she waited for Caroline to come outside. "But I'm trying to decide what's best for not only me, but for our daughter, too."

"I respect that," Damon said, though it took great effort to say those words in the tone that she was looking for. "I just hope you don't intend on stringing me along any longer than necessary."

"What?" she asked, tilting one eyebrow up in confusion.

"That's what you do, Elena," Damon said. "You string people along and make them wait and wonder what the hell you're thinking, before dropping the bomb."

"I'm confused," Elena said, trying not to get upset, even though it was nearly impossible when he put her in the position that he was. "Are we talking about _us_ right now? Or are we talking about Stefan?"

She knew that she had been guilty in stringing both brothers along for over a year, before finally making her decision. It had not been an easy road for either of them, and while she would have liked to have put the whole nightmare behind her, it was clear that it was still a sore subject for Damon.

"I'm talking about the fact that you like to pull people behind you while your mind works to sort out all the nuts and bolts of whatever situation we're in. After everything," Damon said, "you're actually considering letting all of this go away because of one thing that happened?"

Elena did not respond for several seconds as she walked a few feet away from him. "It wasn't just _one_ thing, Damon. It was a series of little one things that added up to a huge mess."

"Yeah, well, just as long as you know that I can't wait around anymore. I need to know what the state is of this relationship. It's too damn painful otherwise."

"Okay," Elena said, "fair enough. By tonight, I'll have an answer either way."

"Okay," he said, reaching out to give her a hug, not capable of staying mad at her for too long, even though she was making it nearly impossible for him right then.

At first she hesitated, but then reciprocated the hug briefly, before pulling away again. "I'll see you later," she promised.

He nodded, as Caroline finally came out to accompany her friend on the drive that would either make or break her decision to either stay with him, or go through a nasty, hurtful breakup. It was hard to sort through the intricacies of her emotions when she was being put on a time frame, but it was the story of her life, and it was something she was trying to work through.

"Be careful," Damon said quietly.

"I will."

* * *

It felt nice to leave the confines of the lake house for once, and go on a drive with her best friend. Caroline had been true to her word since Damon and Bonnie got back, and had been attempting to mend her uneasy relationship with Damon.

Having her as a sounding board for her current relationship problems with Damon, would be a much needed help for her. It was not easy to compartmentalize her emotions and put them into a category that made sense to her, as Caroline drove down the near empty roads.

"So what's up?" Caroline asked, once Elena had been silent for nearly the entire duration of the drive. "I've talked more than I have the last nineteen years of my life, but you've been silent. What's going on with you and Damon?"

Caroline had seen the tension that was between them that morning during breakfast, and though she understood that couples fought sometimes, it seemed different to her somehow, and she knew that Elena needed someone to bear her soul to.

"When Enzo took me and Alexandra," Elena began, brushing some of her hair from her face. "He said that when he and Damon got out of Augustine, they made a pact to go and murder the people and their family that was responsible for their torture."

"Okay...so what happened?"

"I thought he might have been lying," Elena said, brushing a hand across her face. "But he admitted to it. Alexandra's parents were from Augustine, and I just keep thinking what if it had been him in that apartment, instead of Enzo?"

"Would he have killed her?" Caroline asked quietly.

"No, no. He promised me he wouldn't have done it, but he would have come back years later and murdered them. He told me that."

Everyone in their family had done the worst kinds of things to survive, but her compassion was and had always been her Achilles heel, and that included compassion for people who hurt them, or tried to kill them. It was not anything that made sense to her, but even though those people had hurt Damon, she could still play Devil's advocate with them.

"So what's the problem, Elena? If you found out that he was being tortured for five years, and never did anything to defend himself, you would have run out head first and made them pay, right?"

"I—I don't know, Caroline!"

It was hard because she knew that even though it was an issue for her that he had elected to kill those people, it was not the core issue breaking them apart. It was the fact that he lied about it, and she had to find out from Enzo what he had been up to all those years before she was even born.

"Do you feel worse that he lied to you? Or that he did the acts at all?"

"I don't know what to think. It is an issue for me that he kept something from me that he could have pulled me aside, and told me when we started dating. It bothers me because until now, I never imagined we would be the people who lied to each other."

Caroline nodded, trying to see her point. "I know it sucks that you think he kept something huge from you, but what about all the good he's done since all this happened?"

"I know, Care."

"Okay," Caroline said, switching direction. "Do you love him, Elena?"

"Yes," she replied without hesitation.

"Do you still want to be with him?"

"Yes," she said again, without pause.

"Is he a good boyfriend and a good father?" Caroline asked, and Elena knew she was trying to point all of the positive aspects of Damon's character, and she appreciated it.

"I've never seen him happier than when he's with me and Alexandra," Elena said honestly.

"I know what he did in not telling you, was wrong," Caroline said carefully, "and you certainly have a right to be mad at him about it, but is one lie in the grand scheme of _everything_ that you've been through, worth letting it all drop?"

Elena did not reply as she stared out the window. Caroline's words rang true in her head, and made sense. It bothered her that she had been lied to about something so big, but she was not sure if her feelings of hurt and anger, was sufficient enough reason to break up their amazing family they had together.

It was something she would have to talk to him about so that he would know it was not okay to do that anymore, but she was not as ready to head into a world without him, as she had been when she left the house that morning.

"Thanks, Care."

"What are friends for?"

* * *

Elena returned to the lake house with a set mind and a determined heart. She knew everything Caroline had pointed out to her was true, and now all she had to do was pull Damon aside and give him the speech that had been brewing on the edge of her tongue all day long.

It did not take very long before she was able to pull him away from the group to go into their bedroom to converse privately on the issues they were now facing. Damon did not immediately offer commentary on their problems, as he went and stood by their bed.

"Did you have a good drive with Caroline?" Damon asked.

"Actually, yes."

"Did she tell you to drop me the instant you opened that pretty mouth of yours?"

"Actually, no," Elena said, shaking her head. "I guess you have something to thank her for because she managed to screw my brain on the right way."

"Oh?" Damon asked, quirking an eyebrow. "And how did she manage to do that?"

It was obvious he was trying to fake non-interest, but Elena could detect an underlying hint of nervousness as she tried to formulate the words needed to make him realize what her feelings were, and how things needed to change for them, especially in relation to their honesty with each other.

"She asked me all these questions about you," Elena began, swinging her arms back and forth behind her slowly, trying to work up the courage that seemed to have abandoned her at a time when she needed it the most. "About us."

"And?"

"What came out of it was me admitting that I have everything I'm looking for in _you_," she began, "you're a wonderful boyfriend, you are a fantastic father to our daughter, and she got me to admit that."

"Well, there are miracles after all," he said, shaking his head.

"I know things aren't supposed to be perfect," Elena said, "there are times we're going to fight. That's a given with how strong-willed both of us are, and there are times I want to punch you in the face, but I want that with you, Damon, I want it all, the good, the bad _and_ the ugly."

"I want that, too," Damon whispered, still clearly trying to figure out where she was going with this conversation.

"But there are certain things, Damon, that are _not_ okay. Lying to me about what you did for years and years with killing those people? That was wrong, and you know that."

"I do."

"You were right this morning. It wasn't so much the fact that you killed them, as it was that you kept it from me, and not telling me something is just as bad as a lie. Before all this happened, I assumed we were the couple who never kept secrets from each other."

"I was a dick for not telling you," Damon admitted.

"Yeah," Elena said with a small laugh. "You were. But that doesn't change my perception of you, or what I want. I want a life with you, Damon. I want us to be surrounded by our friends and family, and I want us to have the kind of life that I never imagined I would ever get to have, with someone that fought for me and loves me like I deserve to be loved."

"What are you saying, Elena? I'm having a hard time sorting through all this."

"I'm saying that I love you through better or worse, and everything in between, but I cannot stand the lying, and I won't. I need you to be honest with me from now on. Promise me."

"I _promise_ you."

Elena nodded. "Good."

"I love you," Damon said, as he finally took the proverbial leap of faith and stepped closer to her, placing his palm on her cheek as though he were touching an angel. "And I love our daughter."

Elena nodded, not even sure how she had become so lucky as to receive the utter love and devotion from this man. He had started out as someone she hated, someone that she felt nothing but hatred and contempt for, but had gradually blossomed into someone who she felt true love and admiration for.

He was her soulmate in every sense of the word.

Her true love.

Even if she would have been so stupid as to have broken up their family, she knew that the hole in her heart that would have resulted from that, would have never healed or stopped festering until she put an end to it.

"And we love _you_," Elena reminded him, as she tilted her head back so her lips would be in a perfect position to take the full attention of his love.

Damon did not respond right away as he closed the remaining distance between them, and captured her lips in the kind of kiss she had been waiting for all that time, as she eased her arms around his neck, drawing him in even closer.

"We're pretty good at this making up thing," Damon murmured between kisses. "Maybe we should fight more often," he teased, as his finger ran down her lips and ended at the base of her jaw.

"Yeah, no," Elena said, "because I can't stand hating you. I can't stand being mad at you."

Damon nodded. "I know."

They would have continued on for several more hours if they had the chance, but were mindful of the people in the other room that would hear them if they got louder, but Elena did not care as she deepened the kiss, winding her fingers through his hair, needing him as close to her as physically possible.

When the door opened, it was all she could do to part herself from Damon as fast as humanly possible. Straightening up, she noticed that it was only Alexandra, but what was clear to her, was that their daughter had seen their passionate makeout session.

"Did you guys stop fighting now?" Alexandra asked, obviously in response to what she had just witnessed.

"Yes," Damon confirmed, as he picked her up, spinning her around before tickling her sides.

"Dad! Daddy! Stop it," Alexandra cried, erupting into a fit of laughter as he blew air kisses on her stomach.

"Never!"

Elena watched them play, feeling nothing but the utmost peace envelop her as she observed the strong bond that Alexandra and Damon had with each other. It was something she had always wanted, a family of her own, but when her life had been taken from when she drowned, she never thought she would be able to have it.

Now she did.

And she could not believe she had honestly considered ending it because of one stupid fight they had. Watching Damon as a father, was one of the most heartwarming and beautiful things to see. He truly loved and adored his family, and that was never clearer to her than when he was playing with their daughter, or in either the simple or grandiose gestures he displayed to Elena to showcase his love to her.

When Damon finally stopped tickling her, all Alexandra could do was laugh as she tried to catch her breath. Even though she had gone through the worst kind of trauma, both when she died and when she was kidnapped with her mother by Enzo, she was a happy kid and that was all because of the love that had been showered onto her by her parents, and the people around them.

"Was Daddy playing with you?" Elena asked, smiling in spite of herself.

"He was playing tickle monster with me," she said, referencing the game they played together.

"Who won?"

It was hard to know who had come out the victor when their limbs had been flaying around in the mess of blankets and pillows, but she knew that something good had obviously come of it.

"I did," Damon said, grinning victoriously.

"Did he?" Elena asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes," Alexandra grudgingly admitted.

"Alright, let's go out and have some food, okay?"

"Okay!"

All in all, a bad day had turned out to be something wonderful, and Elena could not have been more happy about that simple fact.


	32. Chapter 32

Forgiveness was a word that Elena was already used to. Sometimes, even irrationally, she forgave those who had done her wrong in some way. Her compassion and gift for understanding had sometimes been a blessing (or a curse) depending on the situation, but watching as Damon and Alexandra (attempted) to make a batch of sugar cookies in the kitchen, she knew with every fiber in her being that she had made the right call in forgiving him and not allowing one "blip" as he called it, ruin something truly magical and wonderful between them.

It had only been a few hours since she and Damon had stolen away to the bedroom to discuss the future of their relationship after she found out he had been dishonest with her about a secretive part of his life that had come back to haunt him, and though her entire being had crumbled in the hurt and anger she felt at the chain of events that had accompanied the lie, she was glad she had made the right choice to forgive him this once, and let him prove himself to her again.

Looking over at Caroline and Bonnie, she saw her friends watching her closely, analyzing her every reaction (and thought) if they could. It was one of the perks of having two best, eternal friends who had known her since childhood, they were able to pick up on her different moods and call her out on the crap that no one else wold think to do.

Caroline had also been instrumental in arranging a reconciliation between she and Damon when all hope had seemed to fade from her mind. Giving her a grateful smile, Elena detached herself from the wall she had been glued to as she observed a, for once, peaceful moment, and walked over to her friends.

"Hey you," Bonnie said, smiling softly in direct response to her own friend's relaxation. "Are you glad that you guys worked it out?" Bonnie had not been there for the fight or the ensuing confusion that had followed, but had been caught up by an eager Caroline.

Elena nodded, smiling as she looked into the kitchen as Damon attempted to explain to Alexandra how to correctly measure out ingredients. It was such a simple sight, and one that becoming more and more common those days, and Elena was grateful for the brief flashes of normalcy she was able to grant her daughter, especially in light of recent events.

"Yeah, I am. I just—I can't believe that I almost broke up with him," she whispered, as though she assumed Damon could not hear her, when of course he could, and was simply pretending like he could not.

"I know," Bonnie said sympathetically. "But you didn't, and that's what makes the difference in the end. You came to your senses, even if Caroline had to guide you along."

"Hey!" Caroline protested in indignation, clearly not liking the thin dig Bonnie was directing at her. "I had to do _something_ because come on! You guys are Delena! You can't break up now. Not after I stuck up for him."

"We're what?" Elena asked, arching an eyebrow in confusion as she thought over her friend's odd choice of wording.

"You _know_," Caroline whined, waving her hands for emphasis. "A couple name. A really cute name!"

"Like Brad and Angelina?" Bonnie asked, shaking her head in amusement. "You read too much of those magazines, Care."

"Maybe," Caroline admitted, crossing her arms over her chest. "But I needed to get ideas for my awkward post-puberty body somewhere!"

Elena smiled, remembering that period of time well. It would have gone a lot worse if she had not had her friends and Mom to guide her along that awkward stage. Looking over when Alexandra made her way over to her, she bent down to talk to her, noting the way her hands (and even her hair) had bits and pieces of flour stuck in it from baking.

"Did you have fun baking with Dad?" she asked, looking over the top of her daughter's head at Damon, as he wiped his hands off before making his way over to them.

"Uh-huh," Alexandra said. "We made sugar cookies, and I even got to taste test some of the dough!"

"_Relax_," Damon said, when Elena gave him the kind of look that scolded him for allowing their child to taste test dough. "It's not like she can get salmonella poisoning anymore."

"I know, but make sure she doesn't go crazy, either. Just because she can't get poisoned anymore, doesn't mean she won't be jumping off the walls."

"_Yes_, Elena," Damon said, rolling his eyes. "So, Witchy, you said you wanted to talk about our current options?"

They had been unable to return to the familiarity of Mystic Falls and the boarding house because of the Travelers spell still being in effect despite the actual army of witches going extinct after the explosion at the Grille.

Even though Elena liked the lake house and the sense of privacy and peace that they were allowed to bask in there, it still did not beat the comforts of home and the realization that all of their human friends and family still lived there.

It was home to she and Damon, and Bonnie and Caroline and not to mention their daughter. If it was possible for them to return to it, Elena wanted to have that option to choose from.

"That's right," Bonnie said. "Jeremy said that the magic is only active in certain areas of the town. The less...hatred he has toward vampires, those are the sections that don't have the Traveler taint."

"So," Elena said, struggling to understand as she watched Bonnie draw a visual diagram for her to get a visual clue as to what was happening. "Is our section still under the 'no entry' zone?"

The reason they had been forced to flee from Mystic Falls was because the spell had been activated in their area, rendering the place unlivable for them as long as the spell prohibiting spirit magic was still up and running.

"Unfortunately yes," Bonnie admitted, as she switched to an updated map of their town. "It goes from about here to here," she demonstrated, as she drew with a red marker the areas that were in danger. "Anywhere else, it's safe."

"So our home there is still not safe," Caroline surmised, pursing her lips together tightly. "What about getting it _dispelled_?"

That was the hope that Elena tried to live with as she leaned closer to Bonnie, trying to see the information that she wrote down to demonstrate her point. Mindful of the way that Damon wound his arm around her waist, pulling her close, she gladly melted into his side as they focused on Bonnie.

"Well, that would require a witch to do that," Bonnie said quietly, looking up at all of them. "The witches took my powers when I brought Jeremy back."

"So we might have a solution," Damon said, "but because of those vindictive, prehistoric witches, there's a snag?"

"Basically," Bonnie said, taking a deep breath. "The only people that would be able to harness the kind of power it would take to create a counter-spell to what the Travelers did, would be Liv and Luke."

Elena instantly recoiled from the idea of involving Liv and Luke in their problems again. They had involved the twins in their issues because they were the only people who were willing, and had the power to aid them, but she remembered the promise she made them when they brought Damon and Bonnie back, and she was not eager to go back on it.

"I—I know, Bonnie," Elena said, as she ran a hand over her daughter's hair when she came to her side, "but we promised them that we wouldn't involve them anymore."

"I know that, but this is bigger than anything we've ever faced before. If we can eliminate what the Travelers did, we might have a shot at taking back what's ours."

"It could work," Caroline pointed out quietly. "This way we can go back, and we won't have to be scattered from each other. Tyler could be back at his own home, instead of in the mountains, and Jeremy and Matt can have their friends and family back."

Elena nodded, knowing they all had a point, but also not too eager to confront the siblings again when she thought their paths would never cross again. Looking down, she was comforted by the small smile that Alexandra gifted her with, seeming to know that her mom needed the extra laughter.

"Are they the people that hurt Dad and Bonnie?" she asked quietly.

"Kind of," Elena explained, "but they also brought them back, which is why I don't really like asking them for another favor."

"Because you're afraid they'd say no?" Alexandra ventured.

"How are you so smart?" Elena wondered, in complete awe of the child before her.

"I heard it's a woman thing."

* * *

Damon Salvatore had never been so nervous in his entire life as he paced the living room, waiting for Ric to come meet him at the time they arranged. It was not a typical meeting, and that was what was making Damon so anxious as he ran a hand over his face, trying to calm the cluster of nerves that was rapidly making it difficult to draw breath as he finally gave up on his pointless pacing mission, and sat down on the sofa by the dying fire. He knew that the question he would ask Ric would be one of the most important, (and one of the most terrifying of his life), and that was why he was so nervous as he looked up at the sound of Ric's approach, as he walked around the coffee table to sit down next to him.

"Hey," Ric said, accepting the drink Damon held out for him. "What's the problem, man? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"No ghosts today," Damon said, tipping his glass in Ric's direction. "But I guess you would be the first one to know."

"Is that supposed to be a dead joke?"

"Is it working?" Damon asked, tilting his eyebrow up in question.

"Just get on with it," Ric prompted. "What's got you so freaked you had to leave me a half dozen messages in the space of a single minute?"

"Okay," Damon said, trying to catch his breath. "I could go about this the "modern" way and not clue you in at all, but I figured that since you're Elena's step-father, you need to be involved in this."

"Involved in...what?" Ric asked slowly, as though his brain was trying to connect the dots that he was incapable of fixing on his own.

"You know that it's never been exactly easy for Elena and I," Damon said, recalling, against his will, the numerous fights and disagreements they had shared between them before finally coming to a resolution.

"I know. So what's the point?"

"I love her, Ric," Damon said, knowing that simple word did not even come close to describing the utter devotion and adoration he harbored for this woman. "And I want to spend the rest of my life with her, and with our kid."

"Okay..."

"I came to you because I wanted to know if I could have your blessing, buddy."

"My...blessing?" Ric asked, swallowing back roughly.

"I want to know if it's okay with you," Damon said, gesturing to his best friend, and hoping against hope that he would be on board with what he was trying to convey to him. "If I ask Elena to marry me."

Before, the subject of marriage had never come into the equation when he was with Katherine. The concept of spending an eternity with her had been enough for him and the love he thought they shared, but when he had been snapped out of his deluded thinking and had embraced a life with Elena, he started thinking in the grander scheme of things, and that included marriage with the woman of his dreams, the love of his life, and the mother of his daughter.

Ric did not respond for several minutes as he stared at him, and Damon knew he was wondering if he was at all serious about what he was asking him, and he knew he was. This was not something he had given thought to lightly, but something he had spent many sleepless nights contemplating.

This was what he wanted.

This was something that would mean the world to him to recite vows they had written themselves, and showcase their love for one another in front of their trusted inner circle of friends and family.

"You want to marry Elena?" Ric asked, as though he was trying to wrap his brain around the fact that his nineteen-year-old daughter, even if she was a vampire, would be walking down the aisle.

"I...Yes," Damon said, nodding his head. "I really do, Ric."

"Is this because the feeling of being back from the...dead is still so fresh and you want to jump into something crazy? Or is this really what you're feeling right now?"

"I've been feeling it since before I died," Damon explained, "but when I came back, it just felt right."

"And you think marriage is the next natural step?"

"Yeah, I mean, we already got the kid and the house, all we have to do is make it official. I want her to be my wife, Ric."

In many ways it would be a victory over the mess Katherine had left in her wake when she lied to him about her feelings for him, and it would also be a way to cement the kind of life that he never before thought would be meant for him, but was only meant for his little brother.

"You're my best friend, Damon," Ric began, "but if you hurt her-"

"I won't. You should know that by now."

"I do, but it's still terrifying."

"I can imagine."

He could only imagine what he would do if some punk came up to him and asked for Alexandra's hand in marriage. The dude would be lucky to escape with his heart still intact.

"I give you my blessing," Ric said.

"Thank you."

"The threat still stands, though. If you hurt, I _will_ kick your ass."

"Duly noted."


	33. Chapter 33

The idea of proposing marriage to Elena was terrifying for Damon, and the feeling of being afraid, of being scared of something, was not a feeling he was used to. It was burdensome, and it had never served him in the grand scheme of things when he had been focused on surviving the last 164 years without Katherine, and then focusing all of his mental energy on finding Katherine and freeing her from the tomb she pretended to be locked in.

It was scary to propose marriage to a woman who had very clear-set ideas of what she wanted in life. He knew, he had been the one to accurately predict what she most wanted out of life the first time they happened to meet by chance on that lonely road just outside of Mystic Falls. He knew she loved him, he knew that the family they had built around themselves, brought her a measure of calm and happiness, but he had no idea if her happiness would be open to the idea of marriage, and joining him in holy matrimony.

The concept of marriage to a vampire, was best described in loose terms. The idea of spending an eternity with that someone you loved, was sufficient for most of their species, but with Damon and the love he felt for Elena, it was different to him. He knew that she had envisioned getting married, starting a family, and even though it was starting in a much different way than she initially thought, he thought it was important that she still get the happy ending that she deserved.

First up on the agenda of things to get accomplished before getting down on one knee, was figuring out the kind of ring she wanted. They had never discussed marriage seriously, only in the dead of night when both of them were experiencing a natural high from the passion they felt for each other, but he thought it would be crucial to get her something she would love, something she would treasure for the rest of the time she had.

Sighing, he walked out into the kitchen where Alexandra was drawing something in a scrapbook Elena had gotten her, one she wanted to reclaim some of the precious memories she had of her biological parents, an activity they used to do together. Smiling softly at the innocence of something so normal, he dropped down to one knee beside her as he watched her progress.

"Hey, sweetie," Damon said. "Whatcha doing?"

"Pasting some pictures with this sticky glue," Alexandra replied, as she took a break from her craft to look up at her dad. "Of my old parents."

"I see. They look nice," Damon commented, as he caught a glimpse of her father wearing some kind of clown costume. "Was that for your birthday?"

"My ninth."

Damon nodded, knowing that her ninth birthday would be one of the last she spent with her parents before Enzo took it upon himself to seek revenge for himself. "And what about your last one?" he asked, knowing that her tenth was the last one she would have with her real family.

"There was a carnival," Alexandra said, a shaky smile coming across her face at the memory of her birthday. Even though it was sad to look back on those memories when the sting of their death was still so fresh, she was glad she had them, in a way.

"And what did the carnival look like?" Damon asked softly, as he brushed some of her hair behind her ear when a single tear slid down her face.

"It had these monkeys," Alexandra said with a small, shaken laugh. "And my Dad dressed up like a clown, and was dancing all around the fairgrounds where the party was at."

"Was it fun?"

"Yeah."

"I'm glad," Damon said, pausing to take a deep breath when he could feel his emotions get the better of him. It pained him to realize that for someone as young and innocent as Alexandra, that she would be faced with losing both of her parents at such a young age.

"Are you okay?" the little girl asked, seeing the moisture temporarily sting her dad's eyes before it disappeared from her line of view.

"Yeah...yeah I'm good," Damon said, leaning in to kiss her cheek. "I'm just sad that you didn't get to spend more time with your old parents."

"Me too. They were nice. But I like you guys, too."

"Well, we like you too," Damon confirmed. "But only sometimes."

"Hey!" Alexandra said, lightly pushing him away. "Well, I only like _you_ sometimes."

"Fair enough," Damon said, shrugging. "Are you any good at keeping secrets?"

"Yeah. My friends used to call me the secret-keeper at school. I was pretty good," Alexandra said, summing it up. "Why?"

"This is big, Alexandra," Damon said. "Can you keep a fun secret?"

"Yes."

"Pinkie swear?" Damon asked, holding out his pinkie for her to take with her own.

"Pinkie swear," Alexandra affirmed.

"Cross your heart and hope to die?" Damon asked, crossing his own heart.

"Cross my heart."

"Okay," Damon said, taking a deep breath of anticipation before continuing. "I am going to ask Elena to marry me."

"_Really_?" Alexandra demanded, her eyes widening to the size of saucer plates. "That's so cool!"

"Shh," Damon reminded her, tapping his ear with a finger. "Freaky vampire hearing, remember?"

"Sorry," she said, covering her mouth. "Did you get Mom a ring yet?"

"Not yet. I want to get her something that will make her happy, you know what I mean?"

Alexandra nodded. "Do you know what she wants?"

"Not yet. Which is why I'm going to go to your uncle Jeremy and ask him if he knows anything about what she may want in an engagement ring."

"Well, good luck," Alexandra said. "I think he went outside to chop some wood or something."

Damon nodded, swiping a hand across his jaw. "Yeah, I thought heard something this morning. Figured it was either him or an insanely large woodpecker."

* * *

Walking out to the front yard area of the lake house, he was rewarded with the sight of Jeremy chopping wood into differing piles depending on size and structure. Mentally giving the teen props for his dedication, he stopped a few feet from the commotion.

"Hey, Jer. Want to take a break?"

"No, not really, why?"

"Because I need to talk to you about something."

"Can't it wait, dick?"

"You better start paying some respect to your future brother-in-law," Damon said, deciding that Jeremy deserved the surprise of finding out that way when he refused to give him an inch of breathing room.

"What did you say?" Jeremy asked, stopping his chopping as he turned around slowly to face Damon.

"I asked Ric yesterday if it was okay if he gave me permission to marry your sister. Miraculously, he said yes. What I need _your_ help with, is to inform me if she ever mentioned anything specific about a kind of ring she wants."

"And why would I tell you that?"

"Because I'll break your neck if you don't?" Damon said. "Does that ring a bell to you at all?"

"Chill," Jeremy said, shaking his head. "I was just messing around. Yeah, she um, mentioned something about an engagement ring set in her birthstone."

"And what would that be?"

Damon was beginning to wonder if Jeremy was deliberately testing his patience, and he knew that while it would be entirely deserved after their uneasy relationship, he had no time to guess what Jeremy was trying to communicate to him.

"June has three birthstones, but she wanted hers set in Alexandrite."

Damon nodded. "Okay, thank you."

"It's not a common birthstone," Jeremy warned. "But I guess you could, you know, compel someone to get it or something like that."

"Yeah...I will. Thanks, Jeremy."

"No problem," Jeremy said, as he returned to his chopping. "By the way? I'm glad, for the record, that you're going to be the one marrying my sister."

"Why is that?"

"Because of how happy she is right now," Jeremy said. "It's been a long time since I've seen that."

"Thank you, Jer."

* * *

There were not a lot of ring shops to choose from in the town that the lake house was located in, and Mystic Falls was out of the question for the time being. Finally locating a somewhat decent-looking shop on the outskirts of town, he decided to try his luck in there before continuing on to a more remote location.

Walking in, the place was mostly empty except for a few couples who were obviously shopping for a ring together. Tapping his fingers against the glass counter, he waited for someone to assist him, knowing that time was of the essence before Elena got suspicious of his absence.

"Hello, sir!" Said the cheery sales representative who came to assist him. "What can I help you with this afternoon?"

"I would like for you to wipe that cheery grin off your face," Damon muttered to himself, before speaking up for him to hear. "I am actually on the market for a custom-made engagement ring."

"No problem. We can do that. Do you want to look through a catalog of ideas to get your brain wired up?"

"No," Damon said, shaking his head, as he tried to resist wiping the overly enthusiastic smile off the man's face. "I was actually looking to have the ring set in my girlfriend's birthstone, if that's possible."

"We can do that. Do you know what her birthstone is?"

"Alexandrite."

The salesman nodded. "That's a very rare, very beautiful stone. It was actually recently discovered in these parts of the world, but in 1831 in Russia-"

"I don't need a history lesson," Damon interjected. "Do you have it?"

"I do. One more thing you need to know, sir. The girl you are going to give this to, is very lucky. The stone," he said, as he bent down to retrieve it from the display case. "Has chameleon qualities. The stone right now, is green, but it changes when night falls to a purplish red."

Damon nodded as he gently took the stone in his fingers, turning it over as he examined it. "Can you set it in an engagement ring?"

"I can do that for you, yes."

"The parts that hold the stone in place, can you make it so that three will hold it?"

"Sure. Any specific reason?"

Damon nodded. "It symbolizes our family."

Having three placeholders for the stone would symbolize he and Elena, and Alexandra. It was something he wanted to have, a visual reminder of the good they had built in such a short amount of time.

"Ah, very nice."

"When can you have it done?" Damon asked, as he slid his credit card across the counter to pay for the design.

"Would a week be alright?"

"Yes."

* * *

Glad that he had managed to secure the ring, and hopefully have it in time for the surprise he was planning, he returned to the lake house with a lighter heart that had been missing for the past few weeks, as he walked in through the living room. Elena was sitting with her legs propped up on the coffee table as she read a book that looked conspicuously like it was about parenting.

"What are you reading?" he asked, as he moved her feet to sit down beside her.

"A book," she replied cheekily, turning her head to give him a half-smile.

"Well thank you, miss obvious," Damon said, rolling his eyes. "But what book?"

"How to deal with behavioral changes associated with delayed grieving," Elena responded, as she turned the page with one finger.

"Do you want to translate that into English, please?"

"The brain," Elena explains. "When a child suffers through a great trauma like the death of one or both of the biological parents, the brain can go into overdrive or shut down completely to the processes of grief and healing."

"Okay..."

"I think Alexandra has managed to adapt _okay_," Elena admitted, "but she hardly mentions her family. I think that with everything that happened to her, she's learning to internalize it instead of learning how to deal with it."

"Is this something you learned from one of your psychology books?" Damon asked.

"Damon, I'm serious."

"So am I," Damon said with a scoff. "She's okay, Elena. She went through a horrible thing, actually a couple horrible things, but she's not suffering, I don't think."

"No, but she's starting to rebel against me a little bit."

"How?"

"She won't get in the shower. I tried. She refuses."

"That's typical bratty behavior," Damon said, "want me to try to get through to her that hygiene is of the utmost importance?"

Elena rolled her eyes, but nodded. "Alright, but she needs to know she can't just listen to you. She needs to listen to me, too."

"I know that. I'll talk to her."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Walking into Alexandra's bedroom, he saw the ten-year-old sitting on the edge of her bed as she sulkily kicked at the ground. Looking up when she heard his approach, she looked away again as she folded her arms across her chest.

"I'm not taking that stupid shower."

"I just want to talk," Damon said, as he sat down next to her. "You could probably hear us talking out there, right?"

"I wasn't paying attention. I guess that's one way of tuning out conversations you don't want to hear."

"I know that with everything happening, we haven't had a lot of time to talk about your parents, kiddo. How are you dealing with all of that?"

Alexandra shrugged, but did not answer as she finally looked up into her dad's face. "I miss them a lot, but I can't do anything about it, right?"

"Well, no, but sometimes it helps to talk about it. Or so I heard," he amended.

"There's really nothing to say. They died because of some organization I don't even understand, and I could have died too, but Enzo wanted me to become a vampire instead."

"The organization was full of people who couldn't understand the truth about vampires. The ones we met, tortured us endlessly for five years."

"But my parents didn't do that to you guys," Alexandra pointed out.

"I know that," Damon said. "But somehow Enzo's brain didn't get the message."

"Yeah," Alexandra said with a small giggle. "I miss my parents, but I love my new parents, too."

"We love you," Damon said seriously. "Very much."

"Mom got upset because I wouldn't take a shower."

"Yeah, she kind of wanted me to see what was up with that."

Alexandra didn't respond for a minute. "I just didn't want to do it. I was tired, and wanted to lay down."

"Did you tell her that?"

"Yeah, but she didn't listen," the little girl replied as she drew her knees up close to her chest.

"Well, even though you may not have wanted to do it and you were tired, you could have done a quick job and gotten out and rested."

"I know. My old Mom used to say to not have any regrets later on. If I didn't do it and got in trouble, I would always look back on it and wish I had done something different."

"So why don't you," Damon suggested, "go take your shower?"

"Do I have to?"

"Yes. Go."

"Fine."

"See you when you get out."

"Okay."


	34. Chapter 34

**One Week Later**

The ring was finally complete. After nearly a week of pointless worrying and agonizing over whether or not it would be done on the date he specifically requested, it was done and the maker had ensured that it had been finished on the agreed-upon date. Now all Damon had to do, was put the ring in his pocket and choose a perfect time to propose marriage to the woman he loved.

It was not easy to pick an ideal location—some of the destinations he initially had in mind were off limits because of the pesky anti-magic boundaries that the Travelers had enacted. The planning of getting rid of the boundaries was still being organized by Bonnie, but with no progress thus far, he had to settle on a plan "B" a location that had just as much sentimental significance as any of the other locations.

Waking up the morning of their anniversary—the day of his proposal—was one of the most nerve-wracking days of his life, but also one of the most glorious as he squinted one eye open to capture hers in a quiet gaze. To his surprise, she was already awake and staring at him, as though waiting for him to wake up before making a move to get out of the bed that had shielded them from the horrors of the night.

"Morning," she whispered, a slow grin spreading across her face. "How did you sleep?"

"Like a pig snug in a rug," Damon replied, before leaning foreword with a Herculean effort to capture her lips in a quiet kiss. "You?"

"It was okay. I think my mind was projecting the worries of the past few days, into my dreams, because whenever I imagined approaching Liv and Luke again, all I could see was the time she tried to kill me."

"And did you happen to see when your boyfriend swooped in and saved the day?"

"I think that was part of it."

"You _think_? Or you _know_?"

"I know," she replied confidently, grinning as she positioned her body directly over his, assaulting his face with a series of kisses and massages that would have made a weaker man buckle had it not been for his supreme self-control.

"Do you know what today is?" he asked, as he gently smoothed some of her hair behind her ear.

"What?" she asked, playing dumb, because of course she knew what that day was.

"Our anniversary."

"Of when we first met?"

"Yeah."

"You were the stranger who told me to get everything I was looking for."

Damon nodded, biting down seductively on his lip. "And did you get it?"

"Yes. I did."

"It took a couple enormous bouts of trial and error, but we finally got it right, huh?"

"We did."

They could have continued on their path of passionate alone time, but were interrupted by the squeaking of the door opening, and a pair of little footsteps that announced the presence of one little girl in particular who had stolen their hearts.

"Mom? Dad?" Alexandra asked softly, her little voice just an octave lower than what it normally was. "Are you awake?"

"No," Damon teased. "We're both sound asleep."

"Damon," Elena scolded, smacking his arm. "What's wrong, baby?" she asked, turning her attention to her daughter, who's cheeks had the remains of tear-tracks on her delicate face.

"I had a bad dream," Alexandra sniffled, as she invited herself onto the bed to crawl between her parents. "It was really scary."

"Tell me about it," Elena encouraged.

"I had a dream this m-monster was chasing me, and I couldn't get away!"

"Oh, honey," Elena said softly, as she wrapped her arms around her daughter, pulling her close. "Sometimes when you're stressed about something, your mind can make up these scary images to frighten you."

"Why?" she asked, arching an eyebrow up in confusion of why her brain would make something deliberately scary for her to see.

"Because it's just the brains way of rationalizing something that happens during the day."

"Did you ever have anything like that?"

"Bad dreams?" Elena prompted.

"Yeah."

"All the time, actually."

"When you live the way we do," Damon said, speaking for the first time as he turned over on his back to face his daughter. "Sometimes our brains don't really know what to do, just like we don't sometimes."

"I still don't like it," Alexandra grumbled, as she crossed her arms over her chest like a petulant child.

"No one does," Elena said, shaking her head. "Now do you want to get up and go out and get some breakfast?"

"Okay."

"And will you drink the icky blood that we give you?" Damon inquired, as he finally eased himself up from the comforts of his bed to go out and start the day.

"Maybe," she replied coyly.

Walking out to the conjoined living room/kitchen area, they were greeted by the sight of Stefan and Caroline already making breakfast for everyone. The enticing scent of bacon and eggs floated up their delicate nostrils as they each took a seat at the table.

"Did you guys sleep good?" Caroline asked, as though there was a reason why they wouldn't.

"Yeah," Elena said with a shrug. "Why?"

"She couldn't sleep," Stefan supplied. "She mumbled something about the flies being a nuisance."

"You guys...slept together?" Elena asked, quirking an eyebrow in Stefan and Caroline's direction.

"It's kind of a new...thing we're trying out," Caroline said, twisting her hands around each other nervously.

"Oh," Elena said, shrugging. "Yeah. I guess that's good, right?"

In reality, she had never before imagined her best friend and ex-boyfriend getting together. She was not blind, she saw the attraction that Stefan and Caroline harbored for each other, but it was not anything she had given serious thought to.

"Yeah," Stefan said. "We just thought we would try it and see where it would lead."

"Well," Damon said, "getting together with your built-in sober coach makes the most sense I guess."

"It's not just because of that, Damon," Stefan reminded him.

"I know, I know."

"So," Elena said, making an attempt to defuse the awkward situation they had suddenly found themselves in. "It's our anniversary today."

It was hard to believe that she had met Damon five years ago that day. The stranger on the road who had gotten a glimpse into her mind within the first five minutes of meeting her, and had accurately used that information to predict what she wanted, neither of them knowing that she would wind up finding all of that and more with him.

In the course of their long (and often complicated story), they had grown from a passionate hate on her end, to an irrevocable, passionate love that had never once ceased or abated with the passage of time.

"Ah, congratulations," Stefan said. "Any special plans for today?"

"No, not really," Elena said, "just spending the day with my boyfriend and daughter is good enough for me."

"Same," Damon said with a shrug.

"You guys have to do something more," Caroline said, rolling her eyes as though it should be obvious.

"Yeah," Elena said, with a shrug. "We will."

* * *

The day had turned out to be pretty wonderful. Damon had surprised her with a trip out to lunch at one of her favorite restaurants, and as a special surprise, was taking her on a drive to a location she had no idea about, but one he had specifically planned to coincide with his proposal to her.

"Where are we going?" Elena asked, as she looked out the window at the passing scenery and roads that passed by them.

"You'll see," Damon replied, as he smoothly turned onto a winding part of the road that apparently led to their destination. "It's a surprise, well sort of."

Elena nodded, not able to keep the grin of anticipation off her face as she tried to decipher where they were going from the limited amount of information she had.

"I had fun this afternoon."

"I'm glad," Damon replied, turning his head briefly to look at her. "Here we are."

Stopping at the midway point in the road where he had lied in wait for prey, he got out first and then went around the other side to open the door for Elena. It was a simple romantic gesture, but one that he felt should be included in this afternoon.

"Thank you," Elena said, turning to give him a small smile as they walked out on the road.

"Do you recognize this place?" Damon asked.

"Yes," Elena said, turning around to face him. "This is the road where we met. The mysterious stranger who had all the answers."

"I could read you like a book. Now? Not so much," Damon said, shaking his head, "but I guess that's what keeps it fun and interesting."

"I guess that's true," Elena said, swinging her arms back and forth slowly as she turned away from him. "Do you think we could see the stars if we waited long enough?"

"I don't know," Damon said, as he slowly got down on knee while her back was turned. "Elena."

"What-" the words died on her mouth when she saw the pose he held. "Damon..."

"Elena," he said, "from the first second I laid eyes on you, I saw a future with you. It wasn't a thought I had, it was a feeling that I had to know you, that I had to build a life with you."

"Damon-" Elena started, not even able to speak the words now as she studied his entirely calm face, but knew that inside his composure was crumbling from the way he was forcing himself to hold his position.

"I know that it took you awhile to catch up," he said with a slight laugh, "to the amazing life we could have together, but I want you to know that despite our difficult times, and the times where we wanted to pull each others hair out, I have never loved you less or respected you less.

You are the love of my life, Elena. You and Alexandra are two of the most precious people in the world to me. I don't want to live without you. I can't. I don't know how to. I want to spend an eternity with you and with our daughter, and so would you do me the most amazing honor of being my wife?" he asked, as he finally showed her the engagement ring, the exact one that she always wanted.

"Damon...I don't know what to say..." how could it be possible that he had not only chosen the exact spot they first met to propose to her? But had also taken the time and effort to design an engagement ring set in her favorite birthstone? It was astounding to her that someone could love her as much as they did, and it was also one of the greatest feelings in the world to her, one that rivaled the joy she felt at finding Alexandra.

"Say yes."

"Yes," she said, throwing her arms around him, completely forgetting about the ring as her lips finally found their way to his mouth. "Yes, Damon."

"I love you, Elena," he said, as he finally found it within himself to pull out the ring from its box and slide it onto the right finger.

"I love you, too."

* * *

**This is the last chapter of Fire and Rain. I will be posting a sequel very soon! **

**Thank you for all the people who thought to review/follow or favorite this story. It has truly meant the world to me!**


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